Facing the Past
by nebula2
Summary: [Complete] (Sequal to Fitting Pieces Together). Jesse's at Eden Hall playing basket ball. Gordon and Casey are getting married. And the spring semester brings roller hockey try outs. Who will make the team and what will happen after they do?
1. Try outs begin

Disclaimer: I don't own the Mighty Ducks Disney does.  
  
Charlie's POV:  
"You know I'm nervous about try outs," I admitted to Jesse Hall Wednesday afternoon as we walked back to the dorm from our last class.  
"Why, you're a good player," Jesse told me. "You'll do fine. Its not like you're going to have me or Adam there to make you look bad."  
I elbowed him playfully in the side. "Thanks a lot," I told him. We were quiet for a few moments. To break the silence I asked him, "So how is basketball practice going?"  
"Pretty good," Jesse said. "The coach works us hard but it's also a lot of fun. We have our first game next Tuesday night. You coming."  
"Yeah sure. Its not like I'm going to have some hot date to go on," I told him. I hadn't heard from Linda since she told me she was coming back to Eden Hall on Sunday. I had called several times and left messages but hadn't gotten any replies. I was starting to think this long distance thing didn't even have a chance.  
"Linda still hasn't called huh," Jesse said.  
"No, I'm starting to think she isn't going to," I told him.  
We had reached the dorms by now and as I walked up the steps in front of Jesse the door to the building came flying open. I quickly stepped out of the way as I saw Fulton and Portman come running out of the building. Not far behind them Julie came running out covered in white, presumably flour.  
"Those two really need to find something to occupy themselves with this semester," I commented as walked into the dorm building. I looked down the hallway and saw Connie and Guy cleaning up flour off the floor outside of the girls room. A bucket was still hanging from a rope above the door.  
"I think they have," Jesse said. "Practical jokes."  
"That isn't good for us," I told him as we headed upstairs to the room I shared with Guy. We both had an hour until we had to be places, practice for Jesse and try outs for me, so we had decided to get a start on our economics project that we had been assigned.  
We spent most of the time arguing over which of the ideas that Mr. Recon, our economics teacher, had given us that we wanted to explore. In fact that was the only thing we accomplished that afternoon before Jesse left my room to head for practice. After he had left I grabbed my roller blades and protective gear and stick and headed downstairs. On the front steps of the building I found Connie, Guy, and a now clean Julie already there lacing up there skates. I sat down behind Julie and started putting on my roller blades.  
The others were ready before me but they waited for me. I hurried up lacing my skates and stuffed my sneakers in my bag. The four of us started skating toward the roller hockey court. There was still patches of snow on the ground here and there but the sidewalks and all the courts were cleared.  
"So did you ever catch Fulton and Portman," I asked Julie as we skated.  
"No, but I'm going to get even, I just don't know how yet,"she said. I could see the determination in her eyes and was glad I wasn't the one she was out to get.  
"Come on, Julie it was just a joke," Connie said.  
"Oh, so you're telling me that if it had been you covered in flour you would have just laughed about it."  
"Yes," Connie said. Beside her Guy put a hand over his mouth to keep from laughing and I know I couldn't keep the smile off my face.  
"We'll see," Julie said, "because I don't think those two are done with their pranks.  
By this time we had reached the roller hockey court. There was a lot of kids already gathered. Some of them I recognized as varsity hockey players and a few others from my classes. There were also kids that I had never even seen around the school before. Part of me wondered just how good the could possibly be. As we went through the gate in the fence we saw Russ, Averman, and Dwayne gathered together in one of the corners and we went to join them. As we skated over to them I glanced around the court and saw Scooter in the middle talking with a girl who I assumed was the other student coach. I know she hadn't skated with Varsity this past season because I would have remembered a girl being on the team and I silently wondered just how much she could possibly know about hockey. Still she looked familiar from someplace but I couldn't place her. I probably have just seen her in the halls I told myself as we joined the others.  
"So where is Goldie?" I couldn't help but ask Averman with a smile. I had known he wasn't going to show up.  
"He said the chess club was more to his liking," Averman told me.  
"Are you serious?" Russ asked. "Goldberg's joining the chess club."  
"Yeah, what's wrong with that," Averman said. "If I don't make this team I'll probably join the chess club myself."  
"Well, you'll definitely have less bruises that way," Julie said.  
Before anybody could say anything else though we heard a whistle. I turned around to see Scooter holding a whistle and motioning to us to join them in the center of the court.  
"Well, here goes nothing," I said as we all headed to center court. I still had my doubts as to whether or not I'd make it or not. It wasn't my ability that I was doubting. I was just afraid that after fall semester and my attitude during hockey season if Scooter would want to deal with me on the team.  
  
Julie's POV:  
"Well, here goes nothing," I heard Charlie mutter as we all headed toward center court. I didn't have time to question him about the comment though as Scooter started addressing the group as soon as we had all gathered.  
"Thank-you for all coming out to try-outs," Scooter said addressing us all. "As you can tell from the number of you here not everyone is going to make it. Even if you were on the team last year I won't guarantee you that you'll be on the team this year."  
"For those of you who don't know us let me introduce us. I'm Scott Vanderbilt, you can call me Scooter. I'm the goalie for the varsity ice hockey team. This is Alex Paris. She played on the varsity team last year when she was freshman even though she couldn't play this season because of family issues."  
"This is how try outs will work. We'll be holding try outs for the next three days. Official practices won't start for a few weeks still but for those of you who might want to try a different club or sport this semester if you don't make the team we wanted to get the team formed. Being students, Alex and I realize that we're not going to get the same respect from some of you as you would give an adult coach therefore we won't be selecting people for the team simply based on your skating ability. We will be taken into account your attitude both toward us and other skaters," Scooter said. I couldn't help but notice that he looked right at Charlie when he said that. I glanced over and saw Charlie look down at the ground. I put my hand on his shoulder trying to reassure him. "We'll also be looking at which skaters play well together as a team. We want a good team but we also want this to be fun. If we can all get along, have fun, and learn something through this semester than I don't care if we win all our games or lose them. Knowing that you can depend on your teammates no matter what is what makes a good team not how many goals or scored, or games won."  
"Some of you might be cut today or tomorrow depending on how things go. Try outs will consist of some drills and some scrimmages. How you perform in everything will be taken into consideration. If you're not so good at one thing but good at everything else then you still have a chance at making the team. For those of you who make it to Friday the final list will be posted on the student bulletin board by Monday morning," Scooter told us and then Alex took a step forward and addressed us.  
"Now even thought this isn't considered by the school as an official sport we still expect you to take this seriously. If you're going to be on this team we expect you to be at all practices on time and at all the games. If some kind of emergency comes up please let either Scooter or myself know. Our faculty advisor last year was Mr. Gubbine and as most of you know he took a very hands off way of supervising, he was there to offer Scooter and I advice but let us handle everything on our own. As most of you know Mr. Gubbine took a job elsewhere this semester. We have yet to get the official word as to who the faculty supervisor will be this semester but Dean Buckley has assured us that there will be one even if he has to take over the role himself. How much our new advisor will get involved I don't know but for now we're going on with things as planned."  
"For those of you that are interested, we also like to make a list of alternates. The alternates are not required to be at practices or games but are welcomed to come to practices if they want. However, if someone should not be able to continue with the team for whatever reason then one of the alternates would step in and everything that we expect from the other players will apply so if you plan on doing something else if you don't make the team please let us know so we know not to put you on the alternate list. Also if for whatever reason you don't want to be considered as an alternate let us know that too. It won't affect your chances of making the team," Alex told us.  
"Okay, we're going to get started by splitting you all into two groups and getting names and then start with some drills," Scooter said. He took the easy way of doing it and had us count off by twos. I ended up in Alex's group with Charlie and Averman. The only other one I recognized in the group was Kilpatrick from varsity.  
"I think I'm in trouble?" Charlie whispered to me as Alex started getting peoples names.  
"What are you talking about," I whispered back to him.  
"I don't think Scooter wants me on the team. He looked right at me when he said they'd be taking attitude into account to,"Charlie said.  
"You're overreacting," I told him quickly. Alex was right next to us now writing down Averman's on her list.  
"Would you be able to be an alternate?" Alex asked Averman.  
"Actually I was thinking about doing something else if I don't make it," Averman told her.  
"Fair enough," Alex said making a mark on her paper.  
"Name?" she asked turning to me.  
"Julie Gaffney," I told her.  
"You were the goalie for junior varsity last semester right?" she asked as she wrote down my name.  
"Yeah," I said surprised that she knew who I was.  
"You willing to play any position or are you just interested in being goalie?" she asked.  
"Um, I'd play wherever you put me," I told her, "but I've only ever played goalie."  
"Okay," she said writing something down. "If you don't make the team do you want to be considered for an alternate position."  
"Sure," I said secretly hoping that it wouldn't come to that. I really wanted to make the team.  
"Great," she said and then turned to Charlie.  
"Charlie Conway," Charlie said without her having to ask for his name. "And yes I'd be willing to be an alternate if it comes to that."  
"Okay, thank-you," she said moving on to the next person.  
"Suck up," Averman whispered to Charlie from his place on the other side of me. Charlie just stuck his tongue out at Averman.  
A few minutes later Alex put her clipboard down on the ground on the side of the court and got us started on a shooting drill. She had Charlie take a kid named Allen, and a girl named Marci, and me off to the side and make sure we understood the drill. I was assuming the other two were also goalies. She had Bill Furches, who was the back-up goalie for varsity take the goalie position.  
After a few minutes I got the hang of the drill even though I still wasn't that good at it. I wasn't even sure I was going to be able to get the shot anywhere near the goal.  
"You guys ready?" Alex asked coming over to us. Allen, Marci and I nodded. The other two looked more confident than me though. "Okay, Gaffney you can go next."  
"Okay," I said uncertainly as I got the puck and headed toward the goal like Charlie had showed me. Bill didn't even have to try and stop the puck from going in as it went wide of the goal. I could feel my face turning red as I heard a few snickers around me, Bill among them.  
"Cut it out," Alex told them. "Gaffney, try it again," she said turning to me. "And this time take it slower. Speed will come with time."  
I just nodded as I retrieved the puck from the side of the court and started over. "You can do it Julie," I heard Charlie say from the crowd as I started toward the goal again. I did what Alex had told me to do and took it slower. As I shot the puck toward the goal this time it actually headed toward the goal and to my surprise went in.  
"Nice job," Alex said. "Okay, Gaffney take Bill's place. Kilpatrick you're up."  
It took me a couple of minutes to put my goalie mask and gloves on and then Bill and I traded sticks as he went to join the others waiting. I took my place in front of the goal and glued my eyes on Kilpatrick as he headed toward me with the puck. I stopped the puck from going into the goal. In fact I didn't let one person score. I kind of felt like I had redeemed myself a little bit.  
As Allen and I switched places again I rejoined the group ended up right behind Charlie. "Nice going Cat Lady," he said as I came to a stop.  
"Thanks," I said watching as Averman took his turn at the drill and scored.  
On Charlie's second try at the drill, he had taken one shot while I was being the goalie, Alex, now with a hockey stick in hand instead of the clipboard skated defense against him. Charlie was still able to score. Charlie wasn't the only one that Alex skated defense on but I wasn't sure how she was choosing which ones to skate defense against.  
We tried a few other drills before Alex and Scooter called a break. As they got together and talked quietly the rest of us took the opportunity to get a drink.  
"Nice way to show up the coach, Charlie," Averman said.  
"Oh be quiet," Charlie snapped.  
"Hey I was just joking," Averman said.  
"Sorry," Charlie said. "I guess I'm just a little wound up."  
"You really want to make the team don't you?" I asked.  
"Yeah, I guess I do," Charlie said.  
Scooter and Alex called us back and staying in the same groups we had before we started a scrimmage game for the rest of try outs. Bill and Simon Malone, a freshman I knew from one of my classes who had been in Scooters group were put in as goalies.  
The scrimmage went uneventful until Murphy tripped Charlie up with his stick on a play. The two started arguing and Scooter had to break them up. He sent them both to the sidelines. As Charlie came over to where our team was standing I could tell he was furious. On the other side I could see Murphy still arguing with Scooter. Alex put Averman in to replace Charlie and then walked over to Charlie.  
"Conway," I heard her say quietly because I was standing right next to him. "I want you to take a break and go calm down."  
Charlie just nodded although I could tell in his eyes that he thought that he had blown all chances of making the team. I watched as Charlie made his way of the court and skated down the sidewalk a little bit. Part of me wondered if he'd come back.  
I went back to watching the game. Charlie did come back shortly and he seemed much calmer. A few minutes after he came back Alex put me and Charlie into the game for the last few minutes.  
"Nice job today everyone," Alex told us as they called an end to the first day of try outs. "I'll expect to see most of you back out here tomorrow."  
As Charlie, Averman, Russ, Guy Connie and I headed to over to where we had left our stuff I saw both Scooter and Alex approach a few people. From their reactions I had a feeling they were being told not to come back the following day. I noticed that one of the people that Alex had talked to was Bill Furches and as I picked up my bag I saw Scooter across the court talking to Murphy who definitely was not happy with what Scooter had told him. Then Scooter started heading toward us. From the look on his face I had a feeling it wasn't just to see me, even though we were going out to dinner that night.  
"Here it comes," Charlie said and I knew exactly what he was getting at. However halfway to us Alex stepped in front of Scooter and started talking to him. The others and I watched wondering what was going on.  
  
Alex's POV:  
As I got finished talking to the last kid I had noticed laughing at Gaffney on her first try at the drill, I noticed Scooter heading toward Julie and her friends. I knew exactly who he was going to talk to and why. I hurried over to him and got in front of him before he reached them.  
"Scott, don't do it. Give him another chance."  
"Why, he isn't going to change. He has to much of a temper." Scott told me. "Look, I like Conway, really I do but I don't think he's going to work out on this team. He's going to cause problems."  
"Why?" I asked him. "After you broke the two up Conway didn't give you or me in problems. I saw Murphy over there arguing with you."  
"And Murphy has been told not to come back tomorrow. And anyway if he wasn't giving you any problems why did he leave the court."  
"I told him to take a few minutes and calm himself down."  
"His temper is just going to keep causing problems," Scooter said.  
"I remember a time when people thought that about me too. Remember my freshman year after making it on Varsity. I kept getting into arguments with Riley and a few of the others during practices and even one of the games. If I remember correctly it was you who defended me to Coach Wilson and kept him from kicking me off the team. You even helped me to learn ways to control my temper. Give Charlie a fair chance."  
"Okay," Scott told me with a sigh. "But I still think it's a bad idea."  
"So noted," I told him with a smile. Instead of headed over to where he had been heading before he walked over with me to gather our stuff together.  
"I got a date to get ready for," Scott told me. "Can we get together later and discuss today's tryouts."  
"Sure, how about at eight. I'll meet you down in the common room of your dorm," I told him.  
"Okay, see you then," Scott said heading toward Julie who was now waiting at the gate for him.  
"You about ready?" I heard a voice ask. I turn around to find one of my best friends standing nearby. We were lab partners in Chemistry this semester which was his first at Eden Hall. He had just transferred over from Jefferson Academy. We hadn't quite been able to finish up the lab earlier this afternoon as we had some trouble getting the experiment to work out right. We had finally gotten through the experiment but now had to complete the lab questions.  
"Yeah," I said picking up my stuff and leaving the court with him.  
  
Charlie's POV:  
I let out a sigh of relief as I watched Scooter walk over to the side of the court with Alex instead of heading back in our direction. Even though I didn't know for sure what had just gone on I had a feeling I had just dodged a bullet.  
Julie said good-bye to us and headed over to the gate to wait for Scooter. I went back to gathering my stuff together. I was just finishing stuffing my skates in the bag when I felt Guy put his hand on my arm.  
"Hey Charlie is that who I think it is?" he asked me pointing over to where Alex was now standing with a blonde haired guy. I took a good look at him. Although he was taller and more broad shouldered than when I saw him last I realized who it was. Before I could say anything though Connie spoke up.  
"Is that Shane Larson?" she asked standing beside Guy.  
"It sure is," I said. I then it dawned on me why Alex had looked familiar when I first saw her. "And Alex use to be a Hawk," I said.  
"Are you sure?" Guy asked.  
"I'm positive," I said. "I remember her playing the year before Bombay took over and then she was with them the following year too. I don't think she played the year Banks joined us."  
"You're right," Averman said in support of my statement. "She's the Hawk that Banks was talking to after one of the games. I think they were still friends," Averman said.  
"Think she remembers us?" Connie said.  
"If she does, I hope she forgot about the problems our two teams had or none of us are making this roller hockey team," Guy said.  
"I don't think we have to worry about that guys," I told them as we all started walking off the court. If that was true I probably would have been told not to show up the next day. I made a mental note to have a talk with Adam later that night though I find out if he and Alex were still friends and if he knew she was going to Eden Hall or not. I wasn't sure if I should mention Shane or not. 


	2. Getting to know Alex

Note: Thanks to my four reviewers of the first chapter - Banksiesbabe99, anne918, crazy4nc128, and CakeEater'sGirly99. Crazy4nc128- you're right in that I plan on getting a romance going on in this story a little bit down the line but I wonder if your thinking of the same two I'm thinking of. Banksiesbabe99- you'll be happy to know that Adam does appear in this chapter a little (he'll get more involved as the story progresses. I explain Scooter not wanting Charlie on the team more in this chapter and although I explain it differently I think we're still thinking on the same lines there. Anne918- I kind of thought Shane would be a neat character to explore and I kind of like him myself. As for Alex, you'll get to find out a little more about her in this chapter and I hope you still love her after you do. Happy reading everyone!  
  
Alex's POV:  
Shane and I headed to the library to work on the lab questions. We found an empty conference room on the second floor and went inside so that we could talk an not disrupt anyone or be disrupted ourselves. It actually didn't take us as long as I had thought it would. We were done with the questions in a half hour.  
"I hope this isn't an indication of how the whole semester is going to go," Shane told me as we both put our stuff away.  
"Come on," I told him, "You can't possibly mess up every experiment."  
"Me? Hey I had help messing it up the second time," Shane told me.  
"Touche," I told him with a smile on my face. I opened the door to the conference room and we headed out of the library. It was getting dark by this time. I looked up and found the moon in the sky. It was almost full and I thought it looked beautiful. Ever since I was little I had a fascination with the moon. Don't ask me why?  
"So how did try outs go?" Shane asked me as we walked down the steps to the library and headed toward the dorm buildings across campus.  
"Overall pretty good. Of course we had a few people causing problems but we expected that."  
"Did they recognize you?" Shane asked and I knew who he was referring to. Charlie Conway and his friends. The Ducks. I had never gotten involved in all the stuff that went on between the Ducks and the Hawks when we skated together. I enjoyed playing hockey and yes I wanted to win every time I took the ice but it wasn't the only thing that mattered.  
I had missed the season that Bombay had taken over coaching District 5 and turned them into the Ducks. My mother had been diagnosed with leukemia and was in the hospital that fall. I had spent the time that I wasn't in school at the hospital with her. She had won that battle with the cancer and gone into remission. Adam and Shane had been the only two Hawks who had been there for me through all of that. Even after they had stopped talking to each other I had remained friends with both of them even though Adam was a year younger than us.  
I had wanted to be there for Adam when he came to Eden Hall last fall, especially after I had learned he had made varsity. I knew what it was like being a freshman and on the varsity. You were forever trying to prove that you belonged. I had gotten lucky and became friends with Scooter or I might not have made it through the school year. However, right before this school year had started my mom had started getting sick again. My father had died in a car accident a couple years earlier and so I was all my mother had. I knew from the beginning that I wouldn't be able to play hockey. It had been a struggle to keep up with my school work and I had missed more classes than I had attended. But with the help of Dean Buckley and my teachers I had completed the school work and just barely passed all of my finals.  
However, my mother didn't win the battle this time. She had passed away a few days before Christmas. Shane had been there with me that night. I had no other living relatives that I knew of, both my parents having been only children and my grandparents had all passed away. For now, I was staying with the Larsons who had been family friends for years. It was what my mom had wanted in her will. However, there was one other thing I had found out right before my mother died. She had told me I had been adopted as a baby. She never had gotten around to telling me who my real parents had been and part of me didn't really want to know. Kathy and Thomas Paris had been the only parents I had known.  
"I'm not sure," I told Shane answering his question. "If they did they didn't say anything about it. I still think that you should've tried out for the team."  
"Oh yeah, that would have gone over real well. Adam hasn't even talked to me since that season. I know his teammates wouldn't. Believe me, its better this way."  
"Adam wasn't even at tryouts this afternoon. I don't know why. I remember Scooter mentioning something about a problem with his dad and that he wasn't living at home so I haven't been able to call him recently although I'm sure his Mom would be able to tell me how to get in touch with him," I told him. I had actually started calling Mrs. Banks a couple times but hadn't gone through with it. Part of me was afraid Adam's dad would answer. The other part of me was starting to wonder if Adam even wanted to talk to me any more.  
"And what are you going to do next fall?" I asked him continuing to talk. "Not play ice hockey either just so you can avoid them?" I asked him.  
"I don't know. Maybe. The only reason I even transferred was because it was what my father wanted. He was upset when I didn't make it into Eden Hall last year. When the chance for me to transfer in this year he was so happy. I couldn't disappoint him. Besides I wanted to be here for you."  
"Thanks," I told him. "That means a lot to me." We walked in silence for a little while. "I still think you should try talking to Adam again." 'Nice words coming from you Alex' I thought to myself as soon as I said the words. What had I just said about putting off talking to him myself here recently.  
"If I thought he would listen to me I would," Shane told me. "He wouldn't even listen to me two years ago when I tried talking to him."  
"That was two years ago. Things change," I told him. I had been trying for the past four years to bring my two best friends back together again. I wasn't about to give up yet.  
Shane didn't say anything else after that and I let the subject go for now. I didn't need to get into a fight with him over it. From what I knew about what had went on at Eden Hall last semester from Scooter I sure couldn't blame Adam for not calling me and being there for me. It sounded as if Adam had a lot of his own problems to deal with since we had last talked.  
We were walking past the student parking lot at this. "Look Shane I got to go or I'm going to be late for practice. I'll catch up with you tomorrow okay."  
"Yeah sure. Have fun," he told me as I headed out to my car.  
  
Charlie's POV:  
I hurried up the steps of the dorm building to the second floor and made my way to my room quickly closing the door and locking it behind me. When Guy got back from his date with Connie he was just going to have to use his keys. My friends had been driving me crazy during dinner. Fulton and Portman were busy planning another prank and I really didn't want to know about it. Averman was freaking out about hockey try outs. If any of us had to worry about try outs it was me. I know Scooter wasn't keen on the idea of me being on the team. Connie and Ken had been reciting lines from the school play and Russ and Jesse were at each others throats, for what reason I don't know.  
I sat down at my desk and got my history book out. After about five minutes I gave up trying to read it and tried my math homework. After trying to add thirteen and five and ending up with nine I gave up on that too. I had to face it my mind was not on my school work. My thought was on try outs. Well maybe not so much try outs as our student coaches, Alex Paris in particular. Did she realize who Connie, Guy, Averman and I were? Did she still think of us as rivals? Ducks vs. Hawks. I tried to remember what she was like back in pee wees.  
As I thought about it I realize that she had never really seemed to get involved in the rivalry between the two teams. She hadn't stood up for us, except for Adam one time when McGill had been getting on his case during our first game the second season he had skated with us. I remember McGill backing off when she stood up to him. Other than that incident I just remembered her as another player. Sure she had checked me into the boards a couple of times but it had been in the course of the game. She hadn't gone out of her way to do it like the other Hawks had, even Adam when he skated with them.  
I was also curious as to what her relationship with Adam was. Were they still friends? And exactly why hadn't she been skating this past fall? Scooter had kind of glanced over that part but I had the feeling that he knew more? Would she be playing next fall? And where the hell had Shane Larson come from? That was one person I could have done without ever seeing again. My only comfort in the thought was at least it was Larson and not McGill. Larson was definitely the lesser of the two evils.  
With a sigh I reached for my cell phone and dialed Coach Bombay's number. Talking to Adam wouldn't solve everything but at least I might get answers to some of my questions. Adam answered the phone and we talked about some trivial stuff. I had to remind myself not to mention anything regarding Jesse. We were still planning on surprising Adam when he came back to school.  
"So how did try outs go?" Adam finally asked me getting to the subject that I had been trying to figure out how to bring up.  
"Not too bad I guess. There was one little mishap with Murphy."  
"Let me guess you got into a fight with him," Adam said.  
"Oh ye of little faith," I told him. "It wasn't so much of a fight as it was a misunderstanding. Scooter still ended up breaking us up though which I don't think is a point in my favor. In fact, I think Murphy was told not to come back and I probably would have been told the same thing if the other student coach hadn't stepped in, Alex Paris. She skated on the Hawks didn't she?" I asked innocently.  
"Yeah she did," Adam said something strange coming into his voice.  
"You know Guy actually thought we might not make the team because of the problems between our two teams when we were kids."  
"Alex isn't like that," Adam said quickly. "She never did care about the rivalry between the Ducks and the Hawks. She thought it was stupid and she wouldn't hold it against you guys."  
"Whoa, calm down. I wasn't accusing her or anything. Didn't I just say I probably wouldn't be going back to try outs tomorrow if it wasn't for her."  
"I'm sorry Charlie."  
"Are you and Alex still friends?" I asked him.  
"Yeah, I guess but we haven't talked to each other in awhile. The last time I talked to her was right before school started. I really should've called her but things just started happening and now I'm not even sure what number to call her at," Adam told me which just spiked my curiosity. "I guess I'll just have to wait till I come back to school and catch up with her now if she still wants to talk to me. I should've have been there for her last semester and I wasn't."  
"Hey, you had your own problems," I told him. "I'm sure she'll understand."  
"I hope so," Adam said. "She was the only one who stood by me when I switched teams. We haven't spent as much time together recently like we use to but she was always there when I needed her. She actually stood up against McGill and the others after I joined the Ducks."  
"I'm surprised anybody had the nerve to stand up to McGill," I told him. "If it wasn't for Fulton I know I would have been running the other way every time I saw him."  
"Yeah well, no one ever really wanted to mess with Alex. Besides hockey she took karate lessons. She's a black belt now."  
"Great, thanks for the warning," I said and heard Adam laugh on the other end of the line.  
"You know actually Alex reminds me a lot of you," Adam said.  
"Oh really."  
"Yeah. You're both strong-willed, stubborn, and hot tempered. Though Alex has started to get a handle on her temper a bit more than you have." Now it was my turn to laugh at his comment.  
"You forgot lovable on that list," I told him.  
"Now that's a matter of opinion," Adam said.  
"Thanks a lot," I told him. "So what's the story with Alex anyway? Why wasn't she playing on varsity last season?"  
"Sorry Charlie, but that isn't my place to say. Its up to her to tell you."  
"Fair enough. Can't blame me for trying," I said. I hadn't really expected Adam to tell me anything. I knew when someone wanted him to keep something a secret or maybe just not go telling everyone around he'd do it. He'd do it even if you didn't ask and he just felt it was something that you should tell the people you wanted to whether or not it really mattered to you. "Well, I guess I should probably get back to my homework," I said then. We had already talked for an hour and I was determined to at least keep up my mediocre grades I had gotten last semester. My mom would probably even like it if I brought a few of them up.  
"Okay," Adam said. There was a slight pause and then he asked, "hey Charlie, can you do me a favor."  
"Yeah, sure," I said.  
"Can you give Alex this number and ask her to call me if she gets a chance."  
"Of course. No problem," I told him. I got the feeling something else was going on between the two of them other than just not talking to each other in awhile. What had happened that Adam would feel bad that he hadn't been there for her? I thought about seeing Shane with her. Should I warn him about Shane Larson being on campus? " Adam is there anything you want to talk about?"  
"No," Adam said after a slight hesitation. "I don't want to keep you away from school work. I'll talk to you later Charlie."  
"Okay, bye," I told him as we hung up. I couldn't help but feel like I was being shut out again but then again this was Adam I was dealing with. He'd try dealing with everything himself if we let him. Although maybe this time I needed to give him a little space right now. There was definitely more going on then what I knew about right now and until I knew more about what that was I should probably just stay out of it. Maybe I should stay out of it altogether but somehow I had a feeling that wasn't going to happen.  
With a sigh I turned my cell phone of and turned back to my math homework. As much as I would like it to, it definitely wasn't going to do itself.  
  
Scooter's POV:  
I sat at one of the tables in the common room with math book open. I had already finished the assignment but I wanted to make it look like I was doing something. Across the room I could hear Riley getting frustrated as he tried to explain Physics to Cole. Personally, I thought it was a lost cause. How Cole had made it to his senior year was beyond me. Next to my math book was the clipboard with the names and notes I had taken during try outs.  
I glanced up at the clock. It was eight ten. It wasn't like Alex to be late. She was always on time to everything. I was starting to wonder if maybe she was mad at me from earlier. I wasn't sure why I was so against Conway being on the team. I just knew that I didn't want him on the team. And Alex was right. I could probably deal with his temper but the fact was I didn't want to. That was the only chance I had of keeping him off this team because everyone knew he had the talent.  
"Sorry, I'm late," I heard Alex say as she hurried into the common room and over to where I was sitting. She sat her back pack on the table and as she took off her coat I could see that she was still dressed in her karate outfit. "Class got out late tonight and then I got to talking to one of the other students and loss track of time. I'm sorry," she explained sitting down in the chair next to me.  
"Not a problem," I told her as I put my math stuff away and pulled the clipboard in front of me. I waited as she pulled her papers from try outs out of her backpack. "I guess we should start by getting one list of all the kids trying out minus the ones we've already cut," I said. "What happen with Bill. He isn't happy about being cut the first day and was trying to get me to let him come back tomorrow. I told him I wasn't going to even consider it and he wouldn't tell me what happened."  
"He and a few others chose to laugh at one of the skaters who didn't do so well on the shooting drill. You know how I feel about things like that." I nodded as she continued. "Its one thing for friends to tease each other but he and the others who were laughing didn't even know her. Besides, she's a goalie I didn't expect her to do spectacular on the drill."  
"Was it Julie?" I asked.  
"Yes, and I didn't do it just because you're dating her," she told me defensively. "I would have done the same thing had it been anybody else."  
"Did I ever say you would," I told her. "When I asked her how try outs went over dinner she didn't want to discuss it. I knew something had happened."  
"She showed him up when I had her take a second shot," Alex said with a smile. "Second shot went right in and then I had her take his place and she didn't let a shot by her. I really think she's our best bet for goalie."  
"Then why didn't you have her out there as a goalie during the game?" I asked her.  
"What's the point," Alex said with a shrug. "We both know how good she is. I'd like to give the others a chance of showing us what they can do. Besides, I want her to know that she can do something other than just be a goalie. I don't think she was doing to bad out there on offense."  
"No she sure wasn't," I said. Alex had gotten a clean piece of paper out and was busy recopying the names on our lists that we hadn't already crossed out. "I'll make a list of those who want to be considered as alternates if they don't make the team," I told her getting another sheet of paper out.  
While we were writing we talked about some of the other kids who were trying out. I purposely avoided mentioning Conway. I knew we disagreed on him and was putting that discussion off as long as possible. All of a sudden I noticed that the common room suddenly got very quiet. I glance up from the list I was writing to see Dean Buckley standing in the doorway looking around the room. When he saw Alex and I he headed over in our direction.  
"Hello, sir. What can we do for you?" I asked him as he took a seat in a chair across the table from us.  
"I just wanted to let you two know that there is an official faculty advisor for your roller hockey team. Mr. Bombay, Mr. Gubbine's replacement, has agreed to take over that position too. As you probably both know Coach Bombay knows a little bit more about hockey than Mr. Gubbine did. I've informed him of how things worked last year but told him that if he wished to take a more active role in it that I'd support him. He asked me to let you know that he'd like to talk to the both of you at some point tomorrow."  
"Okay," I said. I wasn't sure how I was going to like having Bombay as the faculty advisor. He'd probably want to more or less take over.  
"Thanks Dean," Alex said beside me.  
"Good luck, you two. I'll be keeping an eye on how the team does this semester," Dean Buckley said standing up and walking away. As soon as he was gone the chatter in the room picked back up.  
"What do you think its going to be like with Bombay as the faculty advisor?" Alex asked me.  
"I don't know, but I do know I want to look organized when we meet with him tomorrow."  
"We will," she said calmly. We were both quiet for a little while as we completed her list. "About Conway," she said bringing up the subject I had been avoiding as she put her pen down her list complete.  
"What about him?" I asked staring at the list before me although I wasn't really taking in anything that was written on it.  
"He's a good player. I think he'd be an asset for the team. He's most likely the best player we had out there today."  
"I'm not saying he's not good. I just think he'll be a problem. I think we'll spend practices trying to justify ourselves to him or breaking up fights. The kid has no self control. Orion had a hard enough time dealing with. How much luck are we going to have?"  
"I think you're worrying about nothing. Yes he has a temper but need I remind you so do I have. I think he can learn to control it. Besides I think he really wants to be on this team. That should stand for something."  
"It really means a lot to you doesn't it?" I asked her finally looking up at her.  
"It does. This might sound stupid but I see myself as a freshman in him. Somebody was willing to reach out to me and help me out. I'd like a chance to return the favor."  
She was looking right at me. I knew she was referring to the help I gave her last year during the ice hockey season when we had become friends. She had a point. Maybe Charlie wasn't so different from her back then but I had been her teammate not a student coach. With a sigh I finally told her, "Fine, if Charlie can show me the next two days that he can somewhat keep his temper than we won't cut him. I'm still going on the record that it's a bad idea."  
"Fair enough," Alex said. "Its getting late and I have some more homework to do," she said standing up. "Want to try finding Bombay tomorrow during our lunch period?"  
"Sounds like a plan," I told her. I gathered my stuff up and headed up to my room. It had been a long day and I wanted to get some time alone. Riley was still talking with Cole so I knew I would have the room to myself for a little bit.  
  
"Coach Bombay," I said standing in the doorway to his office in the gymnasium, the following afternoon. Alex was standing right behind me. "Dean Buckley said you wanted us to catch up with you today. Is now a good time?"  
"Yeah sure," he said standing up. "Come on in. Scott right?" he asked as he shook my hand. I nodded.  
"And you must be Alex," Bombay said turning to Alex.  
"Yes sir," she said shaking his hand.  
"You played on the Hawks didn't you?" Bombay asked her as the three of us sat down  
"Yes I did," Alex said.  
"You were a good player," Bombay told her.  
"Thank-you sir," she said.  
"Now from what Dean Buckley told me you two more or less organized the whole roller hockey program here at Eden Hall last year and that Mr. Gubbine just gave you help when you asked for it."  
"Ah yeah that's right," I said nervously. "He knew the basics of hockey but that's it."  
"Well, I think its great for students to get involved in projects like this. From what I've heard about the program you've done an outstanding job. If you don't mind however, I'd like to get a little bit more involved as faculty advisor than Mr. Gubbine did. Now, don't get me wrong I'm not going to try taking over. This is still your team, and I'm going to let you do the coaching and chose your own team. However, I'd like to come to practices and games and observe what is going on and then I'll offer my advice to you afterwards. I promise I won't interfere during the practices. I just think I'd be able to give better advice if I see first hand what is going on."  
I looked at Alex. I had to admit there had been times last year when I would've liked to have some one giving me advice on certain things. Yes Mr. Gubbine had helped us as much as he could but he had never showed any interest on seeing what was going on. It was either Alex or I who had to approach him. I could tell from the look in her eyes to that she liked the sound of his proposal.  
"I think that would be great," I told him. Suddenly I wasn't nervous anymore. My worst fear had been that Bombay would try taking over the team. It didn't seem like that he was planning on doing that."I know there is a lot more I could learn about coaching."  
"Me too," Alex said.  
"Great," Bombay said. " I know you had your first try out session yesterday. Any chance I could see who you have trying out?"  
"Yeah sure," Alex said handing over the folder she had which had our master list and our notes in it which we had both rewritten the night before. "There were a few kids that we had problems with yesterday that we've already cut," Alex told him. Suddenly I was glad she had stopped me from cutting Conway yesterday. I knew that Bombay was soon going to be Charlie's step father. I was almost wishing I hadn't rewritten the part of my notes about Charlie and his temper. I wasn't sure how Bombay was going to take it.  
Bombay was silent as he glanced over everything we had in the folder. "You two are really organized," he finally said. "Look I know I'm pretty close to some of these kids so I'm going to stay out of the selection process. This is your team. Being students yourself you're going to face a bit of a challenge getting respect from some of your peers. I do want to give you this advice though- don't disregard someone just because you think you may have problems dealing with them. This should be a learning experience for the two of you too. Learning how to deal with problems that arise amongst your team members should be part of that learning experience. I just want you to keep that in mind."  
"We will," Alex said glancing over at me. I just nodded in agreement.  
"Well, unless you two want to ask me anything else I think we're about done here for now," Bombay said. Both Alex and I shook our heads.  
"Are you going to stop by try outs this afternoon?" Alex asked as we stood up getting ready to leave.  
"I may for a little while just to see how things are going but I'm not sure. I'll definitely be there Friday though," Bombay told us.  
"Okay," Alex said as we left.  
"I still feel the same way about Conway," I told her as we walked down the hallway. We still had time to grab a quick snack before our next class.  
"So noted," she told me. "Don't worry. I'm going to have a talk with him this afternoon."  
To tell you the truth I wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. I definitely didn't want Conway or any of the Ducks mad at me. Especially Julie. I was starting to wonder if maybe I had made a mistake asking them to try out. 


	3. The next day

Note: It's fun to see you guys trying to guess who's going to be with who. You'll just have to wait to get to that point of the story though to find out. Crazy4nc128, DuckHockey00214496, anne918, and Banksiesbabe99 thank-you for reviewing. Your reviews inspire me to keep writing (I have a tendency of starting a story and then never finishing it usually) but knowing you're enjoying it keeps me going on it. So please keep reviewing even if its just a two word review. At least I know you're still out there. Well here's the next Chapter and a little bit more complication in the lives of our beloved Ducks. And anne918 you'll be happy to know that the end of the chapter is Adam's POV.  
  
Charlie's POV:  
On Thursday I headed to the roller hockey court by myself. I had gone for a walk after my last class to think about things. I was determined to make this team. I had to figure out how best to accomplish that. I knew the number one thing would be to control my temper. By the time I had gotten to the dorm after my walk none of my friends were anywhere to be seen. Guy's skates and stuff had been gone so I had grabbed my stuff and headed for the court. It was still a little early but I would need time to put my skates and stuff on anyways.  
Even though it was early I saw that others had already arrived. Alex was there already but I didn't see Scooter anywhere. I looked around the court to see if any of my other friends had showed up yet and saw Averman occupying the same spot we had staked out yesterday. I headed over to join him.  
"Hey Averman," I said as I sat my stuff down next to him. He had just started to put his skates on.  
"Hey Charlie. Where did you get to this afternoon?" he asked me looking up at me.  
"I was out walking. Needed some time to think." I told him. I was about to sit down and start putting my own skates on when I heard Alex call my name.  
"Hey Charlie, can we talk for a minute?" she asked me as I turned around to find her standing near by.  
"Yeah, sure," I told her feeling a little uneasy. She led me back through the gate and we walked across the grass away from the roller hockey court and the gathering kids. When there was no chance of us being overheard she stopped and faced me.  
"Look, Charlie I'm going to be honest with you, both Scott and I are a little concerned about your temper. Things like what happened with Murphy yesterday are going to happen from time to time but you can't go off like you did yesterday. Believe me I know how easy it is to do that. I had a problem with my temper when I came here and played on Varsity my freshman year. It almost got me kicked off the team."  
"But you use to be so calm on the ice during games when we played in pee wees."  
"That was only because the others just went off more than I did no one really noticed me. Besides I was usually so mad at McGill or Coach Reilly that I didn't have any anger left for my opponents."  
I couldn't help but laugh at that statement. The Hawks definitely had never been known for their people skills.  
"Besides," Alex said growing more serious, "we were just kids back then. I don't know if you've realized it or not but we're at a different level now. More is expected of us," she told me. I nodded. That had been what Orion had been trying to show all of us at the beginning of the season last fall.  
"I take it then that I don't have much of a chance at making the team?" I asked. I figured we might as well cut to the chase. I wanted to know where I stood.  
"Scott wanted to cut you yesterday," she told me honestly. "He still doesn't think you should be on the team. However, I think you'd be a great asset to this team. I want you on the team. I've made a deal with Scott. If you can control your temper and not go off on anyone during the next two days then you can be on the team."  
"I think I have my work cut out for me," I told her.  
"I think you can do it," she told me. "What I do when I start getting angry at someone or something I try to do one of two things. First I try to channel that energy into something else other than fighting with someone. Somebody trips you walk away. Let it go. Let the referees handle it or in case of practices the coaches. Maybe they'll catch it maybe they won't but taking it on yourself is only going to get yourself into the trouble."  
I nodded. I know it wasn't going to be as easy as it sounded but I was willing to give it a try. "What is the second thing?" I asked her.  
"What I had you do yesterday. If possible I go off by myself and calm down. I know it isn't always possible but these next to days if you need to go off and calm down do it."  
"What about Scooter?" I asked knowing he wasn't going to take to kindly to me walking off in the middle of try outs.  
"I'll deal with that. Just make you sure you come back," Alex said with a smile.  
"Okay," I told her. I had a feeling that my chances of making the team may have just gone up.  
Alex and I started walking back toward the roller hockey court. I decided to take the opportunity to pass along Adam's message while I was talking to her now.  
"Um, I was talking to Adam last night. He mentioned that the two of you were friends and asked me to pass along a message," I told her. "He wanted you to give him a call when you got the chance. He had mono over the holiday break and won't be back in school till Monday. I'll give you the number he can be reached at. He said he was going to call you but he wasn't sure where to reach you."  
"Did he tell you anything else?" she asked me.  
"No," I told her quickly. "I did ask," I admitted to her, "but I knew Adam wouldn't tell me even before he asked."  
"You're right. I don't even know why I thought he might," Alex said. "So I guess you're curious as to why I wasn't playing hockey last semester?"  
"Among other things," I admitted. I looked over to try and gauge how she was taking all of this. She was still smiling which I took as a good sign.  
"Look, how about we get together later tonight and I'll answer some of your questions," she told me. "I could actually use someone else to talk to right now."  
"Okay," I agreed. By this time we had reached the court again. I held the gate open for her. Alex went over to get her skates on and I headed back to my stuff. Russ, Guy, and Connie had joined Averman by this time. I sat down on the ground and started getting my skates and pads on.  
"Sweet talking the coach, Charlie?" Russ asked.  
"It might be the only way he makes the team after yesterday," I heard Averman comment. I didn't say anything. I knew they were joking and I wasn't going to fall into their trap.  
"Hey guys, what's up?" I heard Julie asked saving me from anymore ribbing from my friends and looked up to see her walking toward us. Scooter was walking over to where Alex was so I figured he and Julie had showed up together.  
"Hey Julie," I replied.  
"Nah, Russ here's the one who is sweet talking the coach," Guy said in reference to Julie.  
"Shut up Guy," Julie snapped. Guy quickly disappeared and started skating laps. Connie went and caught up to him. Russ and Averman skated off too before Julie could turn on either of them.  
"Everything okay, Charlie" Julie asked me sitting down and putting on her skates.  
"Yeah, fine," I told her. I definitely wasn't going to tell her what Alex had told me. What was I going to say. 'Yeah everything is fine. I just found out your boyfriend doesn't want me on the team'. That would go over real well. "I guess I'm just nervous about try outs," I said trying to give her some kind of explanation and hoping that she would just leave it at that.  
"Just relax Charlie. Its not the end of the world if you don't make it," Julie said. I couldn't help but wonder if Scooter had something to her about me.  
"Yeah right," I said standing up and grabbing my hockey stick. I could feel myself getting angry at her. I figured I'd put Alex's advice into practice and get away from the situation.  
"Charlie," Julie called after me.  
"I need to warm up," I told her putting a smile on my face and then skating off.  
  
Julie's POV:  
As I watched Charlie skate off I shook my head. As soon as I had made that comment I knew it was the wrong thing to say. I knew he really wanted to make this team and I knew he felt as if Scooter was determined to keep him off of it. Secretly I was starting to wonder if that was true myself. Scooter and I hadn't talked much about roller hockey which was probably a good thing. I had a feeling that if I did make the team then I would be getting teased about dating Scooter the whole time but I didn't care. I really wanted to play roller hockey. Plus it would be nice to spend extra time with Scooter.  
Try outs started shortly. Alex and Scooter switched the groups they had yesterday and so I ended up in Scooter's group with Charlie and Averman. Scooter started right into drills. I actually got to play goalie more than I had the day before. I still felt as though that was my best chance at making the team but I was determined to try my best at all the drills and everything else too.  
"Tyler if you're not going to take this seriously you can leave now," I heard Alex yell from the other side of the court. I noticed Scooter look over in that direction quickly to see what was going on. I didn't hear Russ reply but I could imagine what it was from knowing him the past three years. I didn't see Russ heading for the sidelines so I took that as a good sign.  
I looked back at our one on one drill as Charlie started heading toward the net with the puck. Jon Kilpatrick, a junior from the varsity and a good friend of Scooters, was skating defense against him. As they got close to the net I saw Charlie go down but couldn't really tell what had happen from where I was standing. I was waiting for Charlie to go off but instead he just got to his feet and headed to the back of the line for the skaters playing defense. I saw Scooter give Kilpatrick a slight nod which made me wonder if Scooter had set Charlie up on purpose.  
I didn't have too much time to dwell on it though as my turn came up quickly. I ended up skating defense against someone that I didn't know at all. I knew for sure that he hadn't played hockey last semester. Although I tried my best the kid was able to slip by me and send the puck into the net.  
"Nice shot, Lambert," I heard Scooter call out. As Averman went up against Allen, one of my competitors for the goalie position. Averman was able to get the shot off but Marci was able to deflect the puck with her stick.  
When it was my turn to try offense I had to skate against a girl from my English class Haley Johnson. She was good but I was still hoping to score. I faked one way and then went the other way. She fell for the fake and I was able to get a shot off and it went pass Marci still in front of the net.  
"Good shot Gaffney," Scooter called. "Okay take a break."  
With a sigh of relief I took off my helmet and headed for the sidelines. I was just happy to see shot go in.  
"Nice job Julie," Charlie said skating up behind me. I looked over at him and saw that he had a smile on his face. I took the smile as meaning that he wasn't mad at me anymore.  
"Thanks Charlie." I told him as I put the stick Connie had lent me down and then took my gloves off. I picked up my water bottle and turned to Charlie.  
"What happened out there with Kilpatrick?" I asked him.  
"Just hockey," Charlie said with a shrug but I had known Charlie long enough to read between the lines. Even though he hadn't said it I knew Charlie felt that he had been tripped up by him.  
We were near enough to Alex's group that we could hear what was going on. They were doing the same drill we had been and Connie and Guy were skating against each other. Simon Malone, who happened to be my biology lab partner was serving as goalie. Russ was standing in line pretending to be an announcer. Alex kept glancing over his way but Russ didn't see her. He was too busy having fun.  
"She's gonna go off on him yet," Charlie commented to me. I figured she was referring to Russ.  
"You think Russ would've figured out to keep his mouth shut."  
"Yeah right," I heard Charlie say with a laugh. He had a point. The first time any of us had even seen Russ he had been in the stands of one of our games at the Junior Goodwill Games yelling insults at us.  
"Okay take a break," Alex told her group after Guy had stole the puck away from Connie. Connie did not look at all happy about it. I watched as Alex skated over to where Scooter was, said something to him and then left the court.  
"Russ, alienating the coach is not going to get you on the team," Averman told him as he came over and joined us.  
"I don't know what you're talking about," Russ said. "I'm just entertaining."  
"Does she know that," Averman said.  
"All right everyone," Scooter yelled a few minutes later. Alex was still no where to be seen. "I want you to pair off. We're going to work on some passing drills."  
Connie grabbed me as her partner. I guess she was still mad at Guy. I saw Charlie and Averman pair up which left Guy with either Russ or someone he didn't really know. He chose Russ.  
Shortly after we started the passing drills Alex came back. At that time I noticed Coach Bombay standing at the side of the court.  
"Julie pay attention," Connie yelled to me.  
"Sorry," I said and focused on my partner. I still missed the pass. I went and got the puck we had and then came back to my spot and sent the puck back to Connie. Not long after that I heard a whistle blow.  
"We're going to end tryouts, a little early today," Scooter told us once he had all of our attention. Coach Bombay had walked over to stand next to him and Alex. "Before I let you all go though I want to introduce you all to our faculty advisor. Most of you already know him but for those of you who don't this is Coach Bombay."  
"Hi everyone. I just wanted to stop by today and see how things were going and also let you all know what role I plan on taking with this team. I will be observing practices and games and I'll be around during try outs tomorrow. I would be happy to answer any questions or show anybody anything that you might need help with but I will be letting Alex and Scooter run this team. I'm not going to get involved directly in any problems that may arise. Alex and Scooter are the coaches and they will have the final say," Coach Bombay told us.  
After that Alex and Scooter dismissed us. I headed over to the sidelines with the rest of the Ducks and started taking off our skates. As soon as we had our sneakers on and stuff put away Connie and I headed back to our dorm. I had promised to help her with her lines for drama club try outs. Connie didn't even bother to say good bye to Guy. I wondered how long she was going to stay mad at him this time.  
As we left I saw Portman and Fulton skating toward the roller hockey court from the other direction. Connie was in a hurry to get to practicing so we didn't hang around to say hi or find out what they were up to.  
  
Portman's POV:  
As we approached the roller hockey court I glanced at my watch. Try outs were already breaking up but we were on time.  
"I guess they're ending early," I commented to Fulton who skated beside me.  
"Well they're Charlie so we didn't miss him," Fulton said. Fulton and I were meeting Charlie after his try outs and going into town to catch a movie.  
As I looked in the direction Fulton had pointed I did saw Charlie talking with the most gorgeous chick I had ever seen. I had no clue as to who she was but I was planning on finding out. From there all I had to do was introduce myself and the rest would be history.  
"Stop drooling dude," Fulton said from beside me.  
"Oh come on, she's hot," I said but I did stop looking at her with my mouth hanging open. By this time Charlie had was skating in our direction.  
"Hi Charlie," Fulton called to him.  
"Hi Fulton," he said. "Hi Portman."  
"Hi Charlie," I said as he joined us. "Man who is that babe you were talking too?" I asked him.  
"That's Alex," Charlie said easily although he didn't look to pleased with my use of the term babe. "She's one of the student coaches."  
"Bet you're wishing you tried out for the team now huh man," Fulton said with a grin on his face.  
"Does she have a boyfriend?" I asked although it didn't really matter. I didn't mind a little competition.  
"I honestly don't know," Charlie told me. "Hey if we're going to make it to the movie we better get going." Charlie didn't have his skating stuff with him so I figured he had given it to the other guys to take back to the dorm.  
Charlie started skating across campus in the direction of the bus stop. Fulton followed him and after one last look back at the girl of my dreams I followed him. I was definitely going to have to introduce myself somehow.  
  
Adam's POV:  
I was in my room trying to do some of the school work that I had been missing seeing as I was still stuck at home. I had packed up some of my stuff already as we were planning on moving into the new house this weekend. Or should I say that Gordon, Ms. Conway and Charlie was going to be moving the stuff into the new house. Gordon had already told me that I was to take it easy this weekend. I guess he was still afraid that I might have another relapse in my recovery.  
As I opened my science book I heard the phone ring but decided to let Gordon answer it. It rang only twice so I figured he had answered it. A few moments later I heard a knock at my door.  
"Yeah," I called. Gordon opened the door and stuck his head in.  
"Phone is for you," he said.  
"Okay, thanks," I said standing up from my desk and heading out to the living room to get the phone. I was curious as to who it was. It couldn't be one of the Ducks because Gordon knew all of their voices and usually told me who it was.  
"Hello," I said picking up the phone and sitting down on the couch near by. Gordon headed back into the kitchen.  
"Hi Adam," a voice said that I hadn't heard in awhile.  
"Alex," I said surprised. "I didn't think you'd call me this soon." I told her.  
"Why not?" she said. "I've been meaning to call you for awhile but then I found out you weren't staying at home and I wasn't around campus much last semester so I couldn't get a hold of you there either. I guess I could've called your house and tried finding out where you were staying but I really didn't want to talk to your dad."  
"Can't say I blame you," I told her. "Not that he would've told you anyway," I said. I told her what had happened between my Dad and me and why I was staying with Coach Bombay.  
"Adam, I'm so sorry I wasn't there for you through all of that," she told me when I was finished.  
"Hey I understand," I told her. "I'm sorry about your mother. My Mom showed me the obituary a week after she died when I was feeling better. I didn't know where to reach you or I would've called you."  
"I missed not having you to lean on this time around," Alex admitted.  
"Well, you know where I am if you need me now. Anytime, don't hesitate to call."  
"Thanks Adam. When are you coming back to school."  
"Monday thankfully. I'm going crazy here. I'm still not going to be able to do a lot. The doctor told me to go to classes and take it easy in the evenings for awhile. No gym and no extracurricular activities."  
"You know there are a lot of kids who would love to get out of gym class."  
"I don't know why. Gym is fun."  
"Yeah, for us athletic types," Alex said with a laugh.  
"So, who are you staying with now?" I asked her.  
Alex hesitated for a moment and then said. "I'm staying with the Larsons."  
"Oh," I said not sure what else to say. I knew that Alex was still friends with Shane in fact she had tried several times to try and get us back together. However, it was still awkward anytime him or his family got mentioned. This time though I had a feeling there was something more that she wasn't telling me. Before I could ask though Alex volunteered the information.  
"Adam, I think you should know that Shane is going to Eden Hall this semester. He transferred over from Jefferson Academy."  
"Great," I said not at all enthusiastic.  
"Adam, he doesn't want to cause any problems with you or your friends."  
"Okay," I said not wanting to get into a fight with her. "Let's just drop it okay."  
"Okay," she said quietly. "Adam, I have something I want to tell you. I haven't mentioned it to anyone before," she was quiet for a moment and I didn't say anything. I didn't want to ruin the moment. "Right before my mom died she told me that she had adopted me," Alex said. I could hear in her voice that she was close to tears which had me concerned because Alex did not cry that often. The last time I had seen her cry was when her mom was sick four years ago when we were both Hawks. "I loved my parents. They meant everything to me and then I find out that they weren't my real parents. Part of me just doesn't know who I am anymore."  
"It doesn't change who you are," I told her. "So they weren't your biological parents. Does it really matter. You know they loved you and you loved them."  
"I know you're right but sometimes I can't help but wonder who I would've been if I hadn't been adopted."  
"Did she tell you anything about your adoption."  
"No, I think she wanted to but she was so sick at the time. Even if she did I'm not sure I want to know who my birth parents are. I mean they did give me away."  
"Sounds to me like you really do want to find them but your afraid to," I told her.  
"Maybe I am. Maybe I just don't want to spend my time trying to figure out who I am."  
"Finding your birth parents wouldn't really change who you are. You'd still be Alex. The same girl I use to play hide and seek and tag with. The same girl who gave McGill a bloody nose when he said girls couldn't play hockey. Who stood up for me when all the other Hawks turned against me. I mean come on how many girls could actually win a fight against any of the guys at Eden Hall." I heard Alex laugh on the end of the line. I had forgotten how much I enjoyed hearing her laugh.  
I heard some voices in the background and then Alex told me, "Hey Adam, I have to go. Charlie and I were getting together tonight to talk and my roommate just told me that he's downstairs waiting for me."  
"Okay," I told her. I felt funny about her spending time with Charlie. I don't know why. I should've been happy. It would be great if Alex could be friends with the Ducks. I had always tried to avoid any situation where they would meet simply because I thought there would be trouble because she use to be a Hawk.  
"If I don't get a chance to talk to you this weekend I'll see you on Monday at school okay."  
"Okay Alex. Bye," I told her.  
"Bye," she said and then I heard the faint click as she hung up the phone.  
I hung up the phone and then walked into my room. Shane Larson at Eden Hall. Suddenly I wasn't looking forward to returning to school so much. Shane and I had been best friends before I joined the Ducks. He had never been openly hostile to me but he had always hung around McGill and kind of went along with whatever McGill had done. He hadn't stood up for me like Alex had but then Alex had never liked McGill anyways. I had been hoping I would never have to face him again. It didn't look like I was going to be that lucky.  
And then there was the Ducks. I know they didn't like him. Hell, Fulton had tied him, McGill and another Hawk to a tree in their underwear in the middle of the park the spring after I joined the Ducks. Right before we went to the Junior Goodwill games. I hated to think what would happen between them this semester. And if the Ducks and Shane were fighting how would that affect my friendship with Alex because I knew that Alex would stand by Shane just like she had stood by me.  
With a sigh I grabbed the novel we were suppose to be reading in English class and laid down on my bed. I tried to immerse myself in Charles Dickens' Great Expectations and forget about my life for awhile. 


	4. Try outs end

Rachel, anne918, Banksiesbabe99, and crazy4nc128 thank you for your reviews of the last chapter. I'm glad you're all enjoying the story. Here's the next chapter.  
  
Charlie's POV:  
"Come on Charlie, you need to put a good word in for me," Portman said to me as we headed toward the table where the rest of the Ducks had gathered for lunch. I noticed that Russ and Jesse were sitting at opposite ends of the table. I hadn't even ventured to find out what was going on between the two of them.  
"Not a chance," I told Portman as I put my tray down on the table between Jesse and Guy. Portman took the empty seat across from me.  
"Why not?" he asked. "You seem to be pretty chummy with her. You almost missed curfew last night when you were out with her."  
Alex and I had ended up going to the ice cream parlor last night to talk. We started talking about stuff. I told her about my family life and how my mom and Coach Bombay were planning on getting married. We talked about our pee wee hockey teams a little bit and both decided to let the be the past and start over letting the Hawk/Duck rivalry be a thing of the past. I was all for it but I warned her that I wasn't sure how the other Ducks would take it. I knew Julie, Ken, Luis Russ and obviously Portman, wouldn't have a problem with her because of that because all they knew of the rivalry was what we had told them. I had a feeling her and Russ weren't going to get along anyway. After that she started telling me about her mom and how she had been sick with cancer last semester which was why she hadn't played hockey. She told me how her mom had died shortly before Christmas and I could certainly empathize with her what with losing Hans last fall. He had been a father figure for me. We had lost track of time and just barely made it back in time for the eleven o'clock curfew last night.  
"You've got a voice. Introduce yourself," I told him purposely not answering his question.  
"She might think I'm too forward," Portman said. I couldn't help it. I laughed at that comment. That had never stopped him before. Between him and Luis I wasn't sure who had alienated more of the girls here at Eden Hall.  
"Besides," Averman said from a couple seats down the table, "I think Charlie has a crush on her himself."  
"I do not," I shot back at him. "We're just friends. Just like I'm friends with Connie and Julie."  
"Yeah, you better be just friends with Connie," Guy said from beside me. I was guessing he and Connie had made up from the afternoon before. I could tell he was joking. At least I was hoping he was joking.  
"Then what's the problem. Its not like I'm trying to get you to set me up. I just want you to introduce me to her," Portman said not giving up.  
"Look, Portman I'm not going to do it so you might as well drop it."  
"At least give me a reason."  
"Fine you want a reason. I don't think you're her type," I told him.  
"Are you saying I'm not good enough for her?" Portman asked.  
"I didn't say that," I said quickly not wanting him to jump across the table and start pounding me. However, personally that is exactly what I thought. "I just don't think you're her type. I don't think the two of you would get along."  
"Fine. I'll show you. I'll get her without your help," Portman said and then started eating his lunch. I could tell he wasn't happy with me but what could I do. He had been the one that kept pressing the subject.  
"How's basketball going?" I asked Jesse trying to change the subject.  
"Fine. I think we're ready for our opening game on Tuesday night." Jesse told me.  
"Good, because if I'm going to give up my Tuesday night to watch basketball then I expect you guys to win," I told him.  
"You got it," Jesse told me with a grin.  
As I looked up I noticed that Portman was now staring at a point behind me. I turned around to find out what he was staring at but I should've known without having to look. At one of the small tables along the side of the cafeteria Alex and Shane Larson sat talking together.  
***flashback***  
Adam and McGill had taken the face-off. McGill had gotten control of the puck and sent it back to the Hawk's number 99, Strickler. Adam had tried to get the puck away from him but hadn't been able to. When Strickler tried passing it to one of his teammates I was able to get a hold of the puck. I had immediately passed the puck off to Banks who headed down ice with it.  
I had started following him down ice but Banks being the better skater had pulled away from me. At first I had thought he had been able to break away from the rest of the Hawks to but the McGill had come up from the opposite side of the ice as me. I had watched helplessly as McGill had caught Adam from behind and used his stick to knock Adam down to the ice. As Adam went down he still managed to get the shot off and the puck went into the net giving us our first goal ever against the Hawks. Against his old team.  
We had celebrated at first but then Adam hadn't gotten up from the ice. He lay face first on the ice next to the net where he had fallen after McGill had shoved him down. Larson had been one of the first one who had realized something was wrong and he knelt down beside his former teammate. I was close enough to hear him when he turned and looked up at McGill who was standing near by.  
"What did you do?" Larson had asked him.  
"My job," McGill had replied easily and with no remorse for what he had done.  
Larson had not left Adam's side until one of the referees had made him as the paramedics came in to attend to Adam. The referee had led him over to his team's box as my teammates and I had stood watching the paramedics concerned for our teammate.  
***end flashback***  
I don't think any of us had told Adam about the concern Larson had shown for him after his injury. I know I never had. And to tell you the truth I'm not sure why I never did. Maybe I should have. Maybe if I had Adam and Larson would have still be friends.  
Looking at the two of them the conversation I had with Alex the night before came back to me. I had told her that I would put the Hawk/Duck rivalry in the past and start new. Now was my chance to show her I had meant it and maybe put a stop to any trouble that would start between my friends and Larson.  
"I'll be back," I told my friends and got up and headed across the cafeteria to where the two were sitting. "Hi Alex," I said as I approached the table.  
"Hi Charlie," she said looking up at me. Across from her Shane suddenly became very interested in the food on his plate. I didn't know whether or not to take that as a good sign or a bad sign. 'What have I got to lose' I thought to myself. I took a deep breath and let it out slowly before I opened my mouth.  
"Hey Shane, I know we've had are problems in the past but I was hoping that maybe we could put all that junk behind us and start over," I said. I held out my right hand to him although part of me didn't think he would take it. Part of me was waiting for him to stand up and punch me or something.  
Instead he looked up at me with a smile on his face. "I'd like that," he said taking my hand and shaking it.  
Maybe we wouldn't be friends but at least we wouldn't be enemies. I looked over at Alex to see that she was smiling. I smiled back at her.  
"I got to get back to my lunch," I told them. "See ya this afternoon," I told Alex.  
"Okay," she said. As I walked away I could hear her and Shane go back to their conversation as I walked away.  
"What was that about?" Guy asked as I sat back down in my seat between him and Jesse.  
"Just setting things right," I told him taking a bite of my food.  
"You've got to be kidding," Jess said from the other side of me. "All the crap that he did to you and all of us and you're going to go over, shake his hand and end it a that."  
"Yeah," I told him why not.  
"I don't trust him," Jesse said. "He's a Hawk."  
"I'm with him," Goldberg said and Guy, Connie, Averman quickly agreed with him.  
"So was Adam," Fulton said which I took to mean he was on my side. Julie, Luis, Dwayne, Russ, Ken and Portman looked completely loss.  
"I'm I missing something again?" Dwayne asked.  
"You're not alone this time," I heard Russ tell him.  
"Look guys," I said. "I'm not asking you all to go over and forgive Shane Larson like I did. If you guys want to hold a grudge then go ahead but just do me one favor. Don't start any trouble."  
"Fine," Jesse said beside me and as I looked around the table I saw the rest of the original Ducks nodding in agreement.  
"Thank-you," I said and went back to my lunch. Around me the Ducks started talking about a movie that had recently come out.  
  
Julie's POV:  
I wasn't complete sure what had gone on at lunch other than the fact that Portman had a crush on Alex. I figured from what was being said that Shane Larson had skated on the team Adam had originally skated with back when the original Ducks were pee wees and that they didn't like him. Personally I didn't think he was that bad of a guy. I had met him briefly the other afternoon when I was with Scooter. Scooter Alex and him had been talking when I met with Scooter in the common room of Scooter's dorm building.  
I decided to forget about it. Charlie had asked them not to start any trouble so I didn't think anything would come of it. It really had nothing to do with me anyway. I left the cafeteria after lunch and headed for my biology class. Once Adam came back to school I would have someone to walk with to the class as he was the only one of my friends in the same science class as me. In fact, because I was friends with him the teacher had paired me up as my lab partner which meant that for lab today I was by myself. I really did hope Adam would be back soon and not only so I had a lab partner. I also missed having him around.  
My afternoon classes passed quickly. Before I knew it the final bell rang and I headed out of my history class. Averman and Goldberg were talking amongst themselves and Connie and Guy were too busy whispering to each other to notice me walking behind them. As I followed them down the steps fo the academic building I felt a hand come to rest on my shoulder. I looked behind me and found myself looking into the soft brown eyes of Scooter.  
"Hey Julie," he said softly.  
"Hi Scooter. What are you doing here?" I asked him. I knew Scooter's last class met on the opposite side of the building so if we met up at all right after classes it was outside the main entrance to the building.  
"My teacher let us out early. I figured I'd come over and surprise you," he told me.  
"Well, that you did," I said with a smile.  
"I was wondering if you wanted to hang out before try outs."  
"Yeah sure," I said with a shrug. I didn't have anything else planned until then.  
Scooter and I headed over to The Eden Hall Café, a student hang out here on campus where a lot of the kids who didn't have cars hung out. We ordered sodas and found a small table in the corner to talk. Even though I had told myself that I wasn't going to talk to Scooter about try outs there was one question that I really wanted to ask. After debating on whether or not I should ask it while listening to him tell me about his day I finally just decided to go ahead and ask him.  
"Did you have Kilpatrick trip Charlie on purpose during that drill yesterday?" I asked him quietly.  
"What kind of question is that?" Scooter asked the smile leaving his face.  
"I saw the look between you Kilpatrick yesterday right after that incident. You were hoping that Charlie would lose his temper and give you a reason to cut him weren't you?"  
"So what if I was," Scooter said surprising me. I had expected him to deny it or try changing the subject. I hadn't expected him to admit to it.  
"Its not fair," I told him. "Yes, maybe Charlie does have a temper but he deserves a fair chance."  
"He shouldn't be on the team. At least not this year. He's too headstrong."  
"You're just afraid that he won't listen to you. That he's a better leader than you are," I told him. I knew I was probably hurting my chances of making the team but at this point I really didn't care.  
"He'll disrupt everything. I'd just have to end up breaking up fights between him and who knows who else. I saw how he reacted to Orion at the beginning of the season. I'm only a few years older than he is. I know I'm going to get no respect from him."  
"If he doesn't respect you it would be because you didn't earn it. Right now I have no respect for you myself," I told him as I stood up and started walking away.  
"Julie wait," Scooter called after me his tone more pleading than anything else now. I didn't stop though. I was mad. Mad at Scooter for what he had said and mad at myself for even bringing the subject up.  
I retreated to my dorm room and was glad to find that Connie was not in it. She was probably out with Guy. Right then I just wanted to be alone. I went over to my desk and pulled out my journal. I didn't right in it everyday just when I was upset, like now. It helped me to think things through by writing everything down.  
When my thoughts had come to a stop I happened to glance over at Connie's alarm clock. When I saw what time it was I closed my journal and stuffed it in the desk drawer quickly. If I didn't hurry I was going to be late for try outs.  
I quickly grabbed my stuff and hurried toward the roller hockey court. I could see that most of the kids had already gathered. My friends were already there and I could see them gathered around in circle along with Alex, and Scooter. Coach Bombay stood near by smiling. I wondered what was going on as I came through the gate and headed toward them. As I got closer I could tell that someone was standing in the middle of the group.  
"There she is," Averman said seeing me approaching the group. Russ stepped off to the side a little bit and I could see who was in the middle of the circle. It was Adam. I rushed over to the group and gave him a hug. I hadn't seen him since the holiday break and I was surprised to see him there today.  
"Hi, Julie," he said quietly as he returned my hug.  
"I missed you Adam," I told him. "What are you doing here today though. I thought you weren't coming back to Monday."  
"I had to get out of the apartment," Adam said. "I managed to talk Gordon into letting me come watch try outs today."  
"Well I'm glad you're here," I told him.  
"You better get ready," Adam told me. I looked around to see that other than my friends everyone else was out skating around. Alex and Scooter were now quietly talking to Coach Bombay off to the side.  
"You're right," I said. After my fight with Scooter this afternoon being late was last thing I needed.  
I quickly put my skates and pads on and was ready just as Scooter blew his whistle to begin try outs. As I skated over to the center of the court to join everyone else I tried to make eye contact with him to see if he was still mad at me. As soon as our eyes met though he quickly looked away. I wasn't sure how to take that.  
  
Connie's POV:  
"Okay this is how the last day of try outs is going to work," Scooter began after we had all gathered around him in the center of the court. "We're going to divide you into two teams and play a scrimmage. We'll switch the players periodically and try to get everyone into most of the positions at least once. Coach Bombay will be switching players for one team and I'll do it for the other team. Alex is going to be out on the court with you all. She'll switch positions and switching teams from time to time. This scrimmage isn't about who can score the most points. We just want to see how different combinations work together and who works well with each other. Any questions?"  
After the last couple of days I expected Russ to say something smart but for once he held his tongue which surprised me. I ended up on Scooter's team with Charlie and Averman. Guy, Russ and Julie were on the other team. From the look on Charlie's face I had a feeling he would have rather been with the other team.  
"What's up?" I asked Charlie softly as the first group set up for the face off.  
"I have a feeling I won't be playing much," Charlie whispered back looking directly at Scooter.  
"You're just being paranoid. He isn't out to get you." I told him.  
"Yes he is," Charlie said. "Alex told me he wanted to cut me day one because of my temper."  
"Then prove him wrong." I told him. "Show him you can play without going off on anyone," I told him trying to encourage him. He just nodded.  
Julie was out in the first group playing offense. She was making a few mistakes here and there but overall she was doing pretty well. As Gordon switched players and pulled Julie I saw Adam come over and give her a few words of advice. I couldn't pay to much attention though because Scooter put me into the game.  
Alex was playing offense for my team at the time. She passed the puck to me and I started to head up court with it but Russ quickly stole it away from me. Russ headed toward the other net with the puck and ended up scoring a goal. Alex had me take the next face off and I didn't fare much better. I loss my stick in the face off. I couldn't believe it. I hadn't done that in years. I let out a sigh of relief when Scooter pulled me out of the game a few minutes later.  
Charlie was still on the sidelines. In fact he spent most of try outs there. It didn't look like Scooter was going to give him a chance which I didn't think was fair. Here I was making a fool of myself and Charlie had to stand on the sidelines and watch. The way I felt right now I would have gladly traded places with him.  
It was nearing the end of try outs when I finally saw Julie take the court as a goalie. As she took her place Scooter finally sent Charlie into the game. Alex, who had been skating for our team immediately motioned for Ryan Lambert to take her spot on our team and switched to the other team. I couldn't help but wonder what she was up to.  
It wasn't long before Charlie got a hold of the puck and headed toward the goal with it. Alex picked him up and was trying to get the puck from him. And then she tripped him. Even I could see that. But Scooter, who had been calling all the penalties the whole time, didn't call it. Can he really be that blind? Somehow I didn't think so. I expected Charlie to go off - if not on Alex then on Scooter but he surprised me. Charlie just got to his feet and went back to playing the game.  
'Way to go Charlie' I thought to myself.  
I was so happy when try outs came to an end. The whole day had just been humiliating for me. As I was heading over to my stuff though I skated past Charlie who was talking to Alex.  
"You tripped me on purpose didn't you?" Charlie asked calmly.  
"Yeah I did," Alex admitted. "I wanted to see what you would do. You did good Charlie. Even when Scott didn't call the penalty you kept your cool."  
"Thanks," Charlie said and then followed me over to our friends.  
"So Connie what happened? Did the stick have butter on it or something?" Rus said as I sat down and started taking my skates off.  
"Very funny," I told him sarcastically. "So I was having a bad day."  
"Don't sweat it. I have those a lot," Averman said from behind me.  
"Thanks - I think," I said in reply.  
"So how does pizza for dinner sound to all of you?" Gordon asked coming over to our group. Needless to say everyone was enthusiastic about the idea.  
"You going to invite Scooter," I asked Julie who was sitting beside me.  
"No," she said simply.  
"Did something happen between you two?" I asked her.  
"You could say that," she said softly. "I tell you about it later," she said which I knew meant she would tell me when we were alone in our room tonight.  
"Okay," I said as the two of us grabbed our stuff and joined the others by the gate.  
"I think that's all of us now," Russ said looking eager to be going.  
"Alex is coming with us," Adam said. I cast a glance at Guy and Averman. The two of them looked as happy about that as I felt. I still didn't really trust her. In my book she was still a Hawk.  
Alex was just picking her skate bag up off the ground and walking toward us when we all heard Scooter call after her. "Alex are you going to talk to me."  
"Later, when I'm not so mad at you," we heard her call back over her shoulder.  
"What are you mad at me for?" Scooter asked. To me he looked like he really didn't know why she would be mad at him. By this time we weren't the only ones watching what was going on.  
"What am I mad at you for?" Alex said turning around to face him. "A few things but I'll tell you the number one thing I'm mad at you for. You didn't call the penalty when I tripped Conway. We both know you should've and we both know why you didn't."  
"This is ridiculous," Scooter told her.  
"No, you're being ridiculous," Alex told him. "I'll talk to you tomorrow," Alex said and then turned around and walked the rest of the distance to our group.  
"Okay, lets go," Gordon said obviously not wanting to get involved in what had just happened. I think he was determined to let Alex and Scooter figure things out on there own if they could.  
"What was that about?" Guy asked me quietly as we headed for Coach Bombay's van.  
"I'm not sure," I told him. I knew I was definitely missing pieces of the puzzle this time. Maybe I could get Julie to shed some light on it later.  
By the time we got to the pizza place the little scene between Alex and Scooter had been forgotten. We were all laughing and joking over the pizza. And although I had been determined not to like Alex, by the end of the afternoon it was a little harder to do. The more time I spent with her the more I started to see her for who she was and not just a Hawk. 


	5. Scooter

Note: This chapter is completely from Scooter's POV. Crazy4nc128, I hope this answers your question as to why Scooter has been mean lately and hopefully redeems him a little bit. Banksiesbabe99, sorry but you're not going to get your Adam/Julie pairing in this story as for your other predictions you'll just have to wait and find out.  
  
Scooter's POV:  
I watched Alex walk away with Conway and his friends. I couldn't believe what had just happened. I was having an awful day. First I had a fight with Julie and now I had a fight with Alex. I turned around and went back to get my stuff. Around me the kids who were left quickly found something to busy themselves with. Not that I could blame them. What a way to start things out. The coaches fighting with each other in the front of everyone.  
I grabbed my stuff and headed for my dorm room. I had a lot of things to think about. I didn't even say good bye to my friends from the varsity team as I left. I really didn't want to talk to anyone right then.  
When I reached the dorm building I headed straight up to my room. I opened the door to the room and dropped my stuff onto the floor with a loud bang. I saw Riley jump at his desk.  
"Damn Scooter, what are you trying to do? Give me a heart attack?" Riley asked turning around and facing me.  
"Sorry," I muttered. Most of the time I got along okay with Riley even though he was a senior and I was a junior. I didn't always agree with him but I would still have to call him my best friend which is kind of sad when you come to think of it. Riley lacked the sensitivity to be a good friend most of the time. He cared about himself first and foremost.  
"Something bothering you?" Riley asked. Did I mention that he was the king of the obvious to.  
I looked at him skeptically. He was my friend but didn't I really want to talk to him about this.  
"Come on Scooter. We're friends. What happened today?"  
"Well lets see I had a fight with my girlfriend and then turned around and had an argument with Alex in front of most of the people who were at try outs including our faculty advisor for the team," I told him. I knew he wouldn't let up until he got some sort of explanation.  
"What were the fights about?" Riley asked trying to act like he really cared. He wasn't doing that good of a job but unfortunately he was the only one I had to talk to since the only other two people I really trusted hated me right about now.  
"Believe it or not they were both about the same thing," I told him. "Charlie Conway." I laid back on my bed and stared up at he ceiling.  
"Captain Duckie," Riley said with a smirk. "If you want I can take care of him for you." I knew Riley hated Conway, and the rest of the Ducks, because of everything that had happened last semester. I didn't even want to think of what Riley would do to him.  
"Stay away from him," I said quickly sitting up on my bed and facing him.  
Riley just laughed. "Relax, I was just kidding,"he told me. Some how I didn't believe that.  
"Maybe they're right," I said laying back down on my bed. I was talking out loud to myself as much as I was to Riley. I didn't really expect him to be much help. "Maybe I haven't been giving Conway a fair chance. Maybe I am trying to keep him off the team not because I think he would cause trouble but because I'm afraid that he is a better leader than me," I said thinking about Julie's words.  
"Conway a leader," Riley said with a little laugh. "That's like calling Cole smart."  
"He's a better leader than you are," I told Riley without even thinking about what I was saying.  
"What's that suppose to mean?" Riley asked.  
"Oh come on," I said. I had already opened my mouth I might as well tell him the truth. "Half of the varsity team only follow you because they're afraid of you," I told him. "The Ducks follow Charlie because they respect him."  
"What do you mean they only follow me because they're afraid of me," Riley said not even catching the last part of my comment.  
"Come on Riley anytime anything isn't going the way you want it to you threaten people to get your way. You manipulate people. And when that doesn't work you have your ape physically threaten them."  
Riley didn't say anything to that he just left the room slamming the door behind him. I was on a roll with pissing my friends off today. I laid back down on my bed and stared at the ceiling again.  
The more I thought about it the more I realized that Charlie's temper really had nothing to do with why I didn't want him on the team. That had just been a convenient excuse. Truth be told, I was jealous of Charlie. Jealous because he was such a good hockey player. Jealous because the Ducks followed him out of respect not because they were afraid of them or they felt they had to. That was what I have always wanted. For people to look up to me and respect me because of who I am and not because of what family I belonged to, or I was older, or because I decided to give myself a title such as Coach. Jealous of him because he knew Julie better. And somewhere in all that jealousy part of me worried about him stealing her away from me.  
I mean it made sense. She knew Charlie better and she had known him for longer. They were about the same age and she spent more time with him than she did me. Man, would my friends laugh at me if I admitted that to them - that I was afraid of a freshman stealing my girlfriend away. Riley would have found it very amusing even though Luis Mendoza had actually stole his girlfriend. Of course, I had just made that easier for him to do by fighting with her this afternoon.  
I finally decided that I had done enough sulking. It was time to do some apologizing and I was going to start with Julie. Exactly what I was going to tell her I wasn't sure but I figured I could figure that out while I sat out side her dorm building waiting for her to come back. I'd wait and talk to Alex tomorrow. We had to get together to make the final decisions for the team anyway and it would probably be safer for me to let her cool off some.  
I'm not sure how long I was sitting on the steps waiting before I saw Bombay's van pull into the parking lot. I watched as Julie, Charlie, Connie, Guy, Averman, and Russ got out of the van and walked toward the building. Charlie had his arm across Julie's shoulder telling her about something. The whole group was laughing even Julie. I hated the fact that Charlie had his arm across her shoulders. Damn it, she was still my girlfriend! We had just had a little fight. We hadn't broken up.  
The laughter stopped as soon as they all saw me standing on the steps. Julie walked to the bottom of the steps and stood there facing me while her friends quickly made there way up the steps past me. The only one who said anything to Julie was Connie who whispered something to her that I couldn't hear. I waited until I heard the door shut behind me before I started speaking.  
"Julie I need to talk to you," I told her softly.  
"I don't have anything else to say to you," she told me. I could see the fire in her eyes that had made me fall for her in the first place.  
"Fine, then just listen to me," I told her. When she didn't walk off I took that as the indication that she was willing to at least listen to what I had to say. "I did some thinking about what you said this afternoon and your right I should've at least given Charlie a fair shot. I should have never had Kilpatrick help me try to keep him off the team. And after I thought about it I realized that you were also right about him being a better leader than I am and I kind of resent that." I wasn't quite ready to admit to anyone that I was jealous because that would just make it more real. "I know that isn't any kind of excuse but I just felt like I should explain myself and apologize to you. I'm sorry Julie. Please don't let this ruin our relationship."  
When I stopped talking she was quiet. She didn't say or do anything at first. I didn't know what to think. Then I saw a smile slowly come to her face.  
"Apology accepted," Julie told me softly. "Maybe I should've just kept my mouth shut. I mean you and Alex are in charge of this team not me."  
"Yeah, but you and Alex both felt the same way about this."  
"Is that what the argument between the two of you was about this afternoon?" Julie asked me.  
"Yeah. Alex felt the same way you do. That I wasn't giving Charlie a fair chance," I told her as we both sat down on the steps. "Wednesday night I actually made her a deal that if Charlie could keep his temper under control for the rest of try outs I wouldn't cut him. That's why I had Kilpatrick trip him up. I was trying to get him to go off so I could cut him. That didn't work and today I didn't call the penalty for the same reason. What kind of coach does that make me? What kind of person does that make me?" I said. I wasn't expecting an answer and I was actually glad when she didn't try to answer those questions. If she had an opinion as to what kind of person that made me I'd prefer that she kept it to herself.  
"He proved me wrong though," I said continuing. "Despite my best efforts he didn't let his temper get the best of him."  
"He really wanted to be on the team," Julie said finally speaking again. "You know you don't have to worry about Charlie treating you like he did Orion. This isn't the Ducks. What we have with the team is special. It means a lot to Charlie, to all of us. Charlie saw Orion as a threat to that. Am I even making any sense?" Julie finally asked with a small laugh.  
"Yeah you are," I told her taking her hand. "So how was dinner?"  
"It was fun," Julie told me. "I missed having you there though," she said softly. We were quiet after that. I was happy just to be with her. After the day I was having I was afraid to open my mouth and make her mad again. It was Julie who broke the silence.  
"I think I should head on in," She told me. "Connie is going to be wondering what is keeping me," she said standing up.  
"Okay," I said standing up myself. "Do you want to catch a movie tomorrow night?" I asked her.  
"Sure," she said.  
I leaned down and gave her a kiss before saying good-bye and heading to my car. It was late and I still hadn't ate anything. I figured I'd go into town and grab something to eat at the diner in town and figure out how to apologize to Alex in the morning.  
When I got back to my dorm room that night Riley was back. I walked in quietly not sure what he was going to do.  
"Hi Scooter," he said easily as if nothing had ever happened between us.  
"Hi Riley," I said walking over to my bed and sitting down.  
"Murphy, Cole, and I were going to go out tomorrow night. Hit some clubs. You up for it?"  
"Actually I already have plans. With Julie." I told.  
"Okay, maybe next time," he said and went back to what ever he had been doing when I had walked into the room.  
If Riley was going to pretend as if this afternoon had never happened than I'd go along with that. I hadn't had any attention of apologizing to him anyway. I wasn't going to apologize for the truth. It was about time some on had told him.  
  
I looked at the clock on the wall. Five minutes till ten am. We had planned on meeting at ten this morning. Part of me wondered if she would actually show up. I knew I couldn't blame her if she didn't. I half expected her to never speak with me again. To tell me to coach the team on my own or find someone else.  
I looked from the clock back to the door to the common room just as she walked in. I couldn't read her face. It was void of any emotion.  
I stood up as she walked toward me and as she approached I held out my peace offering - a single yellow rose. She slowly took the rose from me and I could see a smile slowly come to her face.  
"I'm sorry," I told her quickly why I had the chance. "You were right. I didn't call that penatly on purpose because I was trying to get Charlie to lose his temper. I was trying to get him to give me a reason to cut him from the team. I was wrong you were right. I should've given him a fair chance and I didn't."  
"I think Charlie is the one you should be apologizing to," she told me.  
"I will," I told her. I really had been planning on doing it. She was quiet for awhile. I wasn't sure if that was good or bad. Finally she sat down at the table putting the folder she was carrying and the rose down on the table. I sat back down in my chair as she started talking.  
"Scott, what has gotten into you the last couple of days?" she asked me. I could tell she was concerned not angry anymore. "Not giving somebody a fair chance, that isn't like you. You've always been someone who gave people the benefit of the doubt. Someone who helps people out not condemn them from the beginning."  
"Alex you know how important this team is to me," I told her. "I've always kind of just faded into the background. Gone along with everyone else. When we started this team last year it was my chance to change that. To prove that I could also be a leader not just a follower."  
"And you can. You proved that last year. This whole program would've never made it if it hadn't been for you. You're the one who organized it, and presented the idea to the board remember. All I did was help you with the coaching. Maybe your not a natural leader but you've done a great job with the team. I don't understand what you're worried about."  
"Conway is a natural leader. I mean look at how the Ducks all follow him. They do it because they want to. Because they respect and trust him. I guess I'm jealous of that." There I had finally admitted it to someone. "And scared that he'd steal the team away from me."  
"That won't happen." Alex told me. "He just wants to be on the team. Believe it or not Charlie respects you Scooter, or at least he did. He told me that the other night when we were talking. He said he thought he could learn something from you."  
"He did," I said in disbelief.  
"Yes, he did."  
"Man I have been such a jerk," I said looking down at the table.  
"Well, I'm not going to argue with you," Alex said. I think she was trying to get me to laugh but I didn't feel like it right then. "Scott," she said softly reaching out and taking my hand, "everyone makes mistakes. You just have to fix them as best as you can, learn from them and go on." I just nodded. What else could I say. She was right. I couldn't change what I had done the last couple of days. All I could do was figure out a way to make amends for it and go on.  
"Okay, now we have a team to choose," Alex said moving the rose off the folder and opening it. She took our list of those at try outs and a piece of paper that had to columns on it. One was labeled team members and the other alternates.  
I reached out and pulled the paper toward me and picked up my pen that was sitting on the table. Under the column that was labeled team members I wrote Charlie Conway on the first line. Alex smiled at me and then we started to discuss the other skaters and put together our team for the season. 


	6. Making up

Charlie's POV:  
On Sunday morning I woke up to rap music but I couldn't quite figure out. As far as I knew no one on our floor listened to rap. I glanced over to Guy's side of the room and found that he had already left. Then I glanced at the clock. It was nine am. Great, I thought to myself. Coach Bombay was coming at nine thirty to pick me up so we could finish moving stuff into the new house.  
I climbed slowly out of bed. I found that my shoulders and upper arms hurt from moving stuff yesterday. Thankfully it looked like we were at least going to get everything moved to the house this weekend thanks to the Ducks. They had all showed up at some point yesterday to help us out and most of them were planning to help out today too.  
By the time I got dressed the rap music had been turned off for which I was thankful. When I was done getting dressed I left my room. My plan was to go downstairs and wait for Coach Bombay. However, I didn't get that far. As I walked into the hallway I saw Fulton and Portman going into Jesse's room. Fulton had a red lightbulb and something else that I couldn't make out in his hand and Portman was carrying his bloody skull lamp. I couldn't help but wonder what was going on.  
I walked down the hallway and stood into the doorway to Jesse's room which had been transformed. Fulton was taking the regular light bulb out of Jesse's lamp and putting in the red one and Portman had sat the skull lamp on the desk and was trying to plug it in. Jesse had taking down his normal sports poster and as far as I could tell had put some of Portman's up. I could see incense sitting on the night stand by Jesse's bed and Jesse was getting books out of his back pack.  
"What are you up to?" I asked. All three of them looked around and looked at me in surprise. I don't think any of them had realized I had showed up.  
"Planning a little surprise for my roommate tonight," Jesse said with an evil grin. Adam was coming back to the dorms tonight. We had yet to tell him that Jesse was his roommate or that Jesse was even at Eden Hall, although I'm surprised it hadn't slipped yesterday. I looked at the two books that Jesse was holding up now. One was a book on voodoo and a book entitled simply The Occult.  
"He's going to think he's rooming with a psycho," I said.  
"Exactly. It will add to the surprise," Jesse said standing up and heading over to his desk where he sat the books next to the skull lamp.  
"We even have music to set the mood," Portman said and hit the play button on Jesse's radio. Rap filled the room. At least I had found the source of that. Thankfully, Portman hit the stop button quickly.  
"And this is a nice little touch don't you think," Fulton said holding up a little voodoo doll which must have been the other thing I had seen him carrying. He sat the voodoo doll on Jesse's bed.  
"After he sees this room, he's going to wish he hadn't come back to school," I told them laughing.  
"We're just having a little harmless fun," Fulton said with a smile.  
"This I have got to see," I told them.  
"So you wont' say anything to Adam?" Jesse asked.  
"No I won't," I told him.  
"Charlie, are you ready," I heard Coach Bombay call up the steps.  
"Be right down," I called back to him walking out of Jesse's room.  
"Okay, If I come over with you now Charlie," Fulton asked me following me into the hallway.  
"Yeah sure," I told him.  
"We'll see you later," Jesse told me speaking for him and Portman. Most of the ducks were planning on helping out again today.  
"Okay, Later guys," I told them as Fulton and I headed downstairs where Bombay was waiting for us.  
  
Gordon's POV:  
I picked Charlie up from the dorms on my way over to Casey's apartment on Sunday morning. Adam was already at the house as that was where he and I had spent last night as we had moved all the stuff out of my old apartment yesterday. My apartment building had a waiting list of people waiting for an apartment and so my landlord had let me out of the lease early and wasn't even charging me rent for January which I thought was nice of him. He had new tenants moving into it tomorrow.  
Now we just had to move Casey and Charlie out of there apartment. Casey had the lease for the apartment till the end of the month but she said she would rather get the stuff moved out as soon as possible and be settled in the house before we started planning the wedding which I could understand. Thanks to the Ducks it looked as if we were going to be able to at least get everything into the house this weekend. Unpacking was going to take a little longer.  
When we got to apartment Casey had already started packing things up in boxes. There was one stack of boxes against the wall and she was busy putting photo albums into a box.  
"Hi Mom," Charlie said giving her a hug.  
"If you and Fulton are hungry there are bagels and cream cheese in the kitchen.  
"Great," Charlie said and he and Fulton headed for the kitchen. I heard Fulton say hello to Casey as he walked by.  
As the kids left the room I went over to her and gave her a kiss.  
"Good morning Gordon," she said.  
"Good morning," I told her. "So what do you want to start with? I asked her.  
"I figured we'd start by packing things up and moving the boxes over to the house and then get the furniture later if we have time."  
"Okay," I said grabbing another box from nearby. I started packing up the books she had on the book case near by. "So you ready to pick a date yet?" I asked her.  
"Are you serious?"  
"Sure. We've already got the house. Adam is going back to school on Monday. I think we're running out of excuses to put it off," I told her.  
"Mom, Fulton and I are going to start packing up the things in my room," Charlie said as he and Fulton came out of the kitchen both carrying a bagel.  
"Okay," Casey told them as they walked through the living room and disappeared into Charlie's room. "Well how about the first weekend of February. That would give me time to get moved into the house before I need to start planning things for the wedding."  
"I thought we were going to have a small wedding."  
"We are. There are still things that need to be done," she told me. "Arrange for a church, place to have the reception, invitations, dresses, tuxedos. Do I need to go on?" she asked me with a smile.  
"Nope I get the picture." I told her. "Just let me know what I can do to help and I'll do it."  
"So who is going to be your best man?" she asked me.  
"I was actually thinking about asking Charlie," I told her. "I just hope it doesn't cause any more problems." I said. One of my fears was that Charlie and Adam would end up in another fight over it.  
"I don't think you have to worry about it," Casey said. "I don't think Adam will get upset about it. Now if it was the other way around we might have a problem," she added and we both laughed.  
Once we got all the stuff packed from the bookcase I started carrying boxes down to the van while Casey went to check on the progress Charlie and Fulton were making with Charlie's room.  
Casey and I ended up taking a load of boxes over to the house by ourselves leaving Fulton and Charlie at the apartment still packing things up. As we were unloading the van Alex showed up followed by Larson, who I remembered from when Adam played on the Hawks. I have to admit I started worrying about what kind of trouble his presence was going to cause.  
"Hi Coach Bombay," Alex said cheerfully. "Charlie mentioned that you guys were moving this weekend and I thought I'd come over and help. I would've showed up yesterday but I had things to do."  
"That's fine," I told her. "Casey and I appreciate any help you kids can give us."  
"This is my friend Shane Larson," Alex said. "I hope you don't mind that he came over to help too."  
"No that's fine," I told them shaking the hand that Shane offered even though what I really wanted to do was tell Larson to leave before there was any trouble. I didn't though. In the short time I had known Alex I had already started to trust her judgement. She wouldn't have brought Larson over to the house if she thought there was going to be trouble. "Charlie's still over at his old apartment but Adam's inside unpacking boxes. He's in the livingroom."  
"Okay," Alex said. She and Shane both grabbed a box and headed inside with them. They passed Casey as she was coming back out to the van. After exchanging greetings Casey came out to join me by the van.  
"Aren't those two Hawks," she said. I could tell that she didn't like the idea of them being there. I couldn't blame her. The Hawks use to rough Charlie and the other Ducks up pretty good before I took over the team.  
"Yes," I told her honestly. "But I know Alex and Adam are still friends, and actually Alex and Charlie are getting along pretty well too," I told her thinking about dinner Friday.  
"And the other one."  
"That was kind of a surprise to me," I told her, "but I wouldn't worry about it." 'At least not yet,' I added to myself silently.  
"I hope you're right," Casey said. I handed her a box, grabbed one for myself and we both headed inside.  
The boxes we had were ones that had Charlie's stuff in them so we headed upstairs with them. As we headed upstairs I could hear voices in the living room but couldn't make out what was being said.  
  
Adam's POV:  
I was in the living room unpacking some boxes when Alex and Shane walked in. The fact that Alex had showed up wasn't a surprise to me. She had told me she was going to try and come by and help out today. I hadn't expected her to bring Shane along with her even though they were still friends. She knew that I didn't want anything to do with Shane and that we hadn't talked in four years. I guess she still hadn't given up on all of us being friends again.  
"Hi Adam," she said cheerfully as they walked into the living room.  
"Hi Alex," I said slowly standing up. I didn't acknowledge Shane's presence. Maybe he would get the idea that I didn't want him around. "Thanks for coming and helping out."  
"No problem," she said. "Where would you like us to start?" she asked looking around at the room which was covered with boxes. The furniture from Gordon's apartment was also in the living room. It had been moved in yesterday. I had been busy unpacking the books and stuff to put back on the book case from Gordon's apartment.  
The three of us got back to doing that. Alex started talking about her classes as we started to work. Shane said nothing and I didn't say anything to him. At one point Gordon stuck his head in and said he and Casey were going back over to the apartment. After that we went back to Alex trying to keep a conversation going by herself. I think she was getting frustrated. I was still determined not to speak to Shane.  
I couldn't even explain to anyone why I was so mad at him. I didn't understand it myself. He really hadn't done anything worse than what the Ducks had done at times and I had forgiven them. The last time Shane had tried to apologize I wouldn't even listen to him. Maybe I wasn't being fair. He had been my best friend, along with Alex, for years before our fall out.  
Just as I was thinking about that Shane finally spoke up. Alex had long ago given up on her one sided conversation and we had been working in slilence.  
"Look Adam, I know your still mad at me and I don't blame you," he said. "But will you please just listen to what I have to say. Afterwards if you want me to leave I will." There was complete silence in the room after that. None of us moved or said anything. I guess they were both waiting on me. I slowly put the books I had in my hand on the shelf so I didn't get the temptation to through them at something or someone.  
"Fine," I finally said quietly turning to face him. "I'll listen."  
Shane looked surprised. I don't think he was actually expecting me to agree to listen to him.  
"Adam, what I did four years ago was wrong. We were friends and just because you started skating for a different team that shouldn't have changed but I let it. I let McGill convince me you were a traitor and went along with him because the truth is I was hurt that you went to skate with the Ducks. I wanted you on the Hawks because after you left I missed spending the time with you. I was just being selfish and to tell you the truth after you left it just wasn't fun anymore."  
"I know I wasn't there for you when I should have been. I should have stood beside you like Alex did when McGill and others started turning on you but I didn't. I went along with them because for me it was always easier to go along with the crowd. I don't have the self confidence that Alex does to stand up for myself or for more friends. I know it might not mean much to you now but I am sorry."  
"Why didn't you come see me after the game?" I asked. We both knew which game I meant. The first game I had skated against my former team.  
I saw Alex standing off to the side trying to look like she was busy unpacking a box. I knew she was watching and listening though. I also think she was ready to break us up in case one of us decided to go after the other. In the doorway to the living room I also saw Fulton and Charlie hanging around. I wasn't sure when they had arrived.  
"I tried to. I came to the hospital but your Dad told me to leave. I guess he was angry about what happened. I thought about trying to see you after you came home but I could never quite get the courage up and the longer I put it off the harder it was."  
"Adam, there is something I think you should know," Charlie said taking a few steps into the room. "After McGill knocked you down in that game, Shane was the first one at your side. He didn't leave until the referee made him."  
"Why didn't anyone tell me before?" I asked. Knowing that would have probably made a difference. I had spent the last four years thinking Shane had been indifferent to my injury. That he hadn't cared about what happened to me even though he was suppose to be my best friend.  
"I think we were all afraid that you'd go back to being a Hawk," Fulton said. "After what happened you were one of us and we didn't want to lose you. I guess we were being selfish." I saw Charlie nod beside him.  
"Can we be friends again?" Shane asked me. "I know things might not ever be the same between us but at least we can make a new start."  
I didn't answer him. I didn't know what to say and even if I did I'm not sure my voice would've worked. Instead I took a few steps toward him and gave him a brotherly hug. After a few moments Shane hugged me back. I saw Alex off to the side smiling. 


	7. Who made the team?

Note: Thanks to C-Chan, anne18, Banksiesbabe99,and crazy4nc128 for your reviews of the last couple of chapters. I'm glad you all like my character Alex and C-Chan I do plan on getting Charlie with someone I'm just not saying who yet. Banksiesbabe99 I'm sorry you are so upset over Julie and Scooter but they're staying together anyways, sorry. Anne918 I'm glad you liked the idea of the joke Jess, Portman and Fulton are playing but you'll have to wait till the next chapter to see Adam's reaction. Hope you all enjoy this chapter.  
  
Alex's POV:  
I was so happy to see my two best friends on good terms again. I had somehow convinced Shane to come with me today to help Charlie, Adam, Bombay and Ms. Conway with moving things to their new house last night. I still wasn't sure how I did it. I had spent all night worrying that I had made a mistake. That instead of talking the two would end up fighting or Shane would get into a fight with one of the other Ducks. At first I thought my worries would come true. Adam did not look at all thrilled to have Shane in his new house and Shane had looked like he was wondering why he had ever agreed to come.  
When the two had finally started talking I had tried to stay out of it however I had been ready to step in if the conversation had escalated into an argument. When Adam had finally hugged Shane I know I was beaming. I couldn't help it. I had been hoping for a reconciliation between the two of them for four years.  
"Okay you two break it up," Charlie said from his spot in the doorway. "There's work to do." He and Fulton sat the boxes they had been carrying on the floor and started back out to the van for another box. I followed them leaving Shane and Adam alone in the living room.  
Some of the other Ducks showed up a little bit later to help out. I ended up riding over to the Conway's apartment with Ms. Conway to help her finish packing things up there. Shane, Adam, Julie and Connie came with us. That left Guy, Fulton and Charlie to help Gordon out with unloading the van and getting things into the house. Once they had gotten the most recent load of boxes into the house they were planning on coming over and start moving the furniture.  
While Adam, Shane, and Connie helped Ms. Conway start packing the stuff up in the kitchen while Julie and I headed to Charlie's old room to start taking apart the bed so that it could be moved to the house. Julie and I leaned the mattress and box spring against the wall and then I grabbed the screw driver and started taking part the frame. Julie and I worked in silence for awhile. Julie sat the first rail over on the side of the wall as I started taking the screws out of the second rail.  
"Can I ask you a question?" Julie finally said breaking the silence. She was holding the head board for me.  
"Yeah sure."  
"Well, I was just wondering it there was a reason that I didn't get to play goalie more during try outs?"  
"Why, do you feel as if we didn't give you a fair chance?" I asked her continuing with my work.  
"Well, actually yes. All the other candidates for goalie got more or less the same amount of time to show what they could do. I feel like I got very little time compared to them."  
"Okay next question, did you have fun during try outs?" I asked her.  
"Yes, I did. I enjoyed playing offense and defense and learning how to shoot," Julie told me a smile coming to her face.  
"Well, there is your reason. I wanted to show you that you could do something other than just be a goalie not that I have anything against someone who just wants to be a goalie. A team needs a good goalie and you're a great one but we already knew that. There was no need to put you in as a goalie because you didn't have anything to prove to us but I thought that maybe you'd like to prove something to yourself."  
Julie just smiled and nodded. "So have you two made the final decisions yet?" she asked me. Scooter and I had finalized both lists yesterday and I knew that Scott was planning on posting it today so I figured there was no harm in telling her.  
"Yes, and its getting posted today. You'll have to wait until you get back on campus though to check it out," I told her.  
"Fair enough," Julie said. "And Alex, thanks."  
"No problem," I told her as we went back to taking the bed apart.  
When we got done with Charlie's bed we went into Ms. Conway's room to start taking that bed apart. We were almost done with it when Charlie stuck his head in the room. The guys must have come over to start moving furniture.  
"Hey Fulton, Guy, come check this out. Girls do know how to use tools." Charlie called over his shoulder. Julie reached over and grabbed a pillow at him. Charlie ducked back around the corner though and the pillow ended up on the floor in the hallway.  
I grabbed another pillow and waited for Charlie to stick his head back around the corner. As soon as he did I threw the pillow. He didn't have enough time to react and this time the pillow hit him right in the face.  
"Okay, I deserved that," he admitted laughing. "We brought lunch over," Charlie told us.  
"Great I'm starving," Julie said. She was still holding the foot board up from falling over. I took the last screw out and put the rail with the other one and then she and I moved the footboard over against the wall. Then we went into the kitchen where the others had gathered.  
Lunch was Kentucky Fried Chicken. I could tell Guy and Connie was a little leery of Shane being around but they didn't say or do anything mean or rude. That was actually more than I even expected. I knew those to had no reason to trust Shane or like him. But he had changed since they knew him. We all had. I was just hoping that they would give him another chance. At the very least I wanted us to all be civil to each other. I was still hoping to get Shane to try out for the hockey team come next fall.  
After lunch we started moving the furniture over to the house. I was helping Fulton to carry the footboard to one of the beds in when the other bash brother showed up. I couldn't remember what his name was. To be honest I always thought he was a goon. Not to mention a sexist pig. I had heard him refer to several girls at Eden Hall as babe quite a few times.  
"Hi lovely," he said coming up behind me. "Want to catch a movie sometime?" he asked. I couldn't believe he had actually asked me out. Did he really think we had anything in common.  
"I don't think so," I told him trying to be somewhat polite. What I really wanted to tell him was to get lost.  
"Okay how about dinner?" He asked again.  
"No thank-you," I told him. Didn't he really not get the idea that I didn't want to go out with him or was he just trying to annoy me.  
"Oh come on, we'll have fun," he said smiling at me. What went through my head was 'we'll probably get arrested'.  
"Portman, come help me with the arm chair," I heard Charlie call out.  
"Oh alright," I heard Portman mutter as he finally went away. I let out a sigh of relief.  
"You know he really likes you," Fulton told me as we made our way up the steps.  
"Sorry, but he ain't my type. I think I'd rather date Riley," I said.  
"That's a little cold isn't it."  
"Not really. I could've have said I'd rather date Cole. At least if I went out with Portman, which isn't going to happen," I added quickly knowing Fulton was a good friend of Portman, "I could have some kind of a conversation. You hang out with Cole and you might as well talk to a brick. You have just as much chance of getting a answer back."  
Fulton just laughed. We put the floorboard down against the wall in the bedroom and headed downstairs for the rest of the bed. I spent the rest of the afternoon trying to avoid Portman. I wasn't to successful as he asked me out on a date four more times. I ended up leaving earlier than I had planned just to get away from him. Shane had driven us over so he left with me too after making plans to get together with Adam the following afternoon.  
  
Charlie's POV:  
Somehow we managed to get everything moved out of the apartment on Sunday. The house looked like a war zone though. I was glad I had school the next day and was going back to the dorms that night.  
My mom ended up driving most of my friends back to the dorms right after we ate dinner. I decided to hang around and help Adam get his stuff together to come back to school (that was after we found the stuff in the mess). Coach Bombay said he would drive us over to the dorms as soon as we were ready.  
"So how long do you think Portman's latest crush will last?" I asked Adam as we headed upstairs to his room. We had all noticed Portman trying vainly to get Alex to go out with him. Actually I think that was why she had left early. I had contained my urge to tell Portman I told you so all night. I just didn't want to get pounded. I could keep my mouth shut when it came to self preservation.  
"Hopefully not long," Adam said bitterly. I actually hadn't expected that from him.  
"Is something wrong?" I asked him as he started putting his school books in his backpack. He had packed the other stuff to take back to Eden Hall before we transferred it from Bombay's old apartment to here.  
"I just think that Portman should leave Alex alone. She clearly doesn't want anything to do with him. They have nothing in common and he wouldn't treat her right anyway even if they did go out," Adam said. An idea was starting to come to me.  
"You like her don't you," I said as I picked up his suitcase from where it was sitting against the wall.  
"Of course I like her, she's my friend," Adam said trying to act innocent as he zipped up his backpack.  
"I don't mean as a friend and you know it," I told him.  
"So what if I do?" Adam asked me.  
"Hey, no need to get defensive. I think you two would make a great couple. Why don't you ask her out."  
"No," he said quickly.  
"Why not? What do you have to lose?"  
"A good friend," he told me picking up his backpack and slinging it over one shoulder and picking up the second bag he was taking with him. He headed out of the room without saying anything else.  
I followed him downstairs and didn't say anything else on the subject. I was starting to get to know Adam's moods and this was definitely a drop it I don't want to talk about it mood.  
"You ready?" Bombay asked as we came downstairs.  
"Yeah," Adam said. The three of us headed out to Bombay's van and over to Eden Hall.  
"Hey, Coach, can we stop by the academic building first. I want to see if I made the team or not," I asked him as he turned onto the Eden Hall Campus. Julie had told us that Alex said the list was posted already but she wouldn't tell us anything else.  
"Sure," Coach Bombay said and headed toward the Academic building instead of the dorms. He parked the van along the curb outside the main entrance to the Academic building. I got out and went in by myself. I heard Connie and Guy before I saw them. In fact I heard them as soon as I opened the door of the building.  
"I didn't do it on purpose," I heard Guy saying as I headed back to where the student bulletin board.  
"Yeah right. That's why you blocked all my shots and spent all of try outs making me look bad," Connie said back in a louder voice than Guy. I was starting to wonder if maybe I should just check the list later. As I walked around the corner I saw Guy and Connie standing face to face in front of the bulletin board.  
"I wasn't trying to make you look bad I was just trying to play hockey," Guy told her.  
"You could've fooled me. I ask you to come to try outs with me and you stab me in the back," Connie told him and then started walking toward me. She walked right by me as if she didn't see me.  
I watched her disappear out the door and then turned and walked the rest of the distance to the bulletin board.  
"What was that about?" I asked Guy.  
"Take a look at the list," he said simply. I did and I noticed that I was on the team. I had made first line, right wing. I continued to look through the list. Ryan Lambert, a senior who played football in the fall, was first line center and team captain. Julie was the number one goalie with another freshman, Simon Malone as back up goalie. I saw that Averman had made it as well as Guy. I didn't see Connie's name though. I glanced over at the list of alternates and saw Connie and Russ both listed at alternates. I suddenly knew what the problem was.  
"She's blaming me for her not making the team," Guy said. "She's being impossible. She asked me to try out for the team with her. She's the one who wanted to work together when we paired off. What was I suppose to do not try my best. If I knew it was going to come to this I never would have tried out," Guy told me.  
"Don't worry," I told him. "She'll come around."  
"Probably but you know what, I'm not sure I care anymore. I'm getting sick of her mood swings. Sometimes I think she picks fights with me just for the fun of it."  
"You don't mean that," I told him. Guy and Connie had been an item for years. If they hadn't been I think Connie could've had her choice of guys to go out with.  
"Yes, I do," Guy said. "I think maybe its time that we break up for good."  
"Don't do anything hasty," I told him. "Let her cool off and give yourself time to cool off and then see how you both feel." Guy didn't answer me but he did nod. "You want a ride over to the dorms. Coach Bombay is outside waiting for me. We stopped by as we were bringing Adam and his stuff to the dorms."  
"Yeah, thanks," Guy said as we started walking toward the front door. "Besides, I want to see how Adam likes the way his roommate decorated their room," Guy said finally smiling. I had completly forgot about Jesse's joke. This could get interested. Guy and I both headed outside and climbed into the back of the van. Coach Bombay and Adam congratulated both of us for making the team as we drove over to the dorms. 


	8. Over the line

Note: Okay Anne918 Banksiesbabe99 and crazy2nc128 here is the chapter you've both say you've been waiting for -Adam's reaction to the his new roommate. Hope you enjoy it. Banksiesbabe99 thank you for letting me off over the Julie/Scooter pairing, lol. C-Chan I'm glad to see you're still enjoying the story. I guess if I keep putting hooking Charlie up with someone I'll at least keep you reading (I'll try not to leave you hanging too long).  
  
Charlie's POV:  
Coach Bombay parked as close to the dorm building as he could. Adam, Guy and I got out of the van, grabbed Adam's stuff and headed toward the dorm building. As soon as we walked inside the front door I could hear footsteps going quickly up the steps. 'Probably the look out' I thought to myself as the three of us headed down the hall to the steps.  
Adam led the way up the steps. The dorm was surprisingly quiet except for the sound of rap music which we could hear as soon as we got to the top of the steps. There was nobody in sight. I figured they were probably all hiding in someone's room.  
The door to Adam's room was open and you could see that it was red light that lit up the room which I found eerie even though I knew about it. Adam slowly approached his room with Guy and me behind him.  
Adam walked a couple of steps into the room and then stopped as he took in the room. As he looked around the room I could see the color go out of his face and he let the bag he was carrying drop to the floor. I walked past him and put the bag I was carrying on Adam's bed.  
"Isn't it great to be back," I told Adam like there was nothing unusual about the room.  
"Um yeah I guess," Adam said his eyes fixed on the bloody skull lamp. I reached over to turn the rap music off. "What are you doing?" Adam said rushing over to stop me.  
"Just turning off the music," I said innocently.  
"Are you serious? This guy might get mad at us for touching his stuff," Adam said. It took all I had not to start laughing. Across the hall I could see Jesse and some of the other Ducks looking through the cracked door of Luis and Ken's room.  
"Relax," I told him easily as I turned off the radio.  
"Yeah, you can say that. You don't have to share a room with him."  
"Charlie's right Adam. The guy can't be all that bad," Guy said walking over to Jesse's bed and picking up the voodoo doll. Adam just stared at him as Guy tossed the voodoo doll toward him. Adam didn't even try to catch it he just took a couple steps backwards and let it fall too the floor. As he stared down at the floor at it though he noticed the little paper Jesse had pinned to it which read - 'Hi Cake-eater'.  
"What in the world," Adam said kneeling down and picking up the voodoo doll. Jesse chose that moment to come into the room. He put his hand on Adam's shoulder and said, "hi roommate."  
"Aaahhhh," Adam yelled jumping to his feet and backing away from Jesse. I couldn't keep from laughing anymore. On the other side of the room Guy started laughing to as did Luis, Averman, Portman, Ken and Fulton in the hallway. Jesse was just standing there grinning. "Jesse," Adam finally said sounding as if he didn't really believe it.  
"What do you think of the decor," Jesse said. "I had Fulton and Portman help me with the decorating," Jesse said as if he really planned on leaving the room the way it was.  
"Um, It's different," Adam said diplomatically as the others crowded into the room. We all knew he hated it but I don't think he knew whether or not Jesse was serious about it or not.  
"I'm joking," Jesse told him. "We'll change it back. I just wanted to have a little fun. You haven't changed at all. Your still the same - always trying to please those around you."  
Adam just shrugged.  
"Actually, can I have the lamp back tonight," Portman said. "I'm not sure I trust it in the same room as Adam. He might break it in the dark thinking someones in the room."  
Adam threw the voodoo doll he was still holding at him and it hit Portman in the shoulder.  
"What are you doing here?" Adam asked. "And why didn't anyone tell me you were here?"  
"We wanted to surprise you," Jesse said answering his second question first. "As to why I'm here, Eden Hall offered me a basketball scholarship if I made the team. My Dad still thought it was a good opportunity for me so I decided to humor him and give the place a chance."  
"Are you going to play hockey in the fall?" Adam asked.  
"Let's see if I make it through the spring semester first," Jesse said.  
"Ah, you're a Duck," I told him. "The Ducks are going to leave their mark on this school by the time we graduate."  
  
Alex's POV:  
Shane, Adam and I went together to the opening basket ball game for Eden Hall on Tuesday night. Both JV and Varsity were playing the Oak Crest Cardinals. We found seats near the front on home side.  
"Mind if we join you?" I heard a voice ask behind me.  
The three us turned around to find Guy and Charlie standing behind us.  
"Not at all," I told them patting the empty bench beside me. Charlie sat down next to me and Guy sat on the other side of them.  
"I thought you were going to sit with the others?" Adam said. "Did they decide not to come?"  
"Yeah, they came," Charlie said. "They're sitting near the back."  
"With Connie and her date," Guy said.  
"I'm sorry Guy," I told him. "We didn't mean to cause problems between the two of you."  
"There's no need to apologize," Guy told me. "You two just made the decisions you thought were best for the team. Its not you fault that she can't handle it."  
"So are the two of you actually over?" Adam asked.  
"Yeah," Guy told him. "I'm tired of trying to make it work. We always seem to be fighting over something. We figured it would be better to call it quits while there is still a chance of us at least staying friends but still, I'm not ready to see her out with someone else yet."  
The JV team took the team at that time which ended our conversation. The game didn't start out very well. In the first five minutes the other team had scored four points. It looked as if the Cardinals were going to make short work of our JV team. That didn't keep us from cheering them on though.  
"Well, there's the problem between Jesse and Russ," I heard Charlie say softly in the middle of the first quarter. We all looked at him and he nodded toward where the JV cheerleaders were .  
Russ and Dwayne were sitting directly behind the cheer leaders. Dwayne was actually watching the game. Russ on the other hand was watching the cheerleaders, or to be more specific a certain cheerleader. I recognized the girl. Her name was Alisha Brown and he was in most of my classes. She was also one of the few black girls at Eden Hall.  
Russ wasn't just watching her though he was flirting with her. If looks could kill though he wouldn't be standing. Jesse was on the sidelines at that point and instead of watching the game he was watching what was going between Russ and Alisha and he didn't look to happy about it. For her part though Alisha was doing her best to ignore Russ. I could empathize with her. I knew that feeling. In fact, Portman was the reason I had asked Adam if we could not sit with the rest of his friends.  
"You know, girls are just causing all kinds of problems here lately," Charlie commented beside me.  
"Thanks a lot," I told him hitting him in the arm.  
"Sorry," Charlie said. "Besides you're not just a girl you're Alex," he said with a smile.  
"Nice try Conway," Shane said from the other side of Adam. The kids around us started cheering which took our attention back to the game. The Warriors had just scored their first basket bringing the score to eight to two still in favor of the Cardinals.  
It didn't take the Warriors too long after that to score another basket after the first one. In fact, the second basket was made by Jesse and we cheered like crazy for him. It didn't take me long to realize that Alisha was watching Jesse when he was out on the court. It didn't slip Russ' attention either as he tried even harder to get her attention. The Warriors gave us much more to cheer for during the rest of the game. At the end of the game the score was twenty-four to eighteen in favor of our team.  
  
We stayed for the Varsity game which followed. Jesse even ended up coming up and joining us at the beginning of the second period after he had showered and gotten changed. After the Varsity lost to the Cardinals we met up with the rest of the Ducks and walked back to their dorm together. I said good-bye to them outside and Shane and I headed over to our dorm building.  
"Bye Angel," I heard Portman say to me as I started leaving.  
"Get a life," I told him over my shoulder and continued walking.  
  
Charlie's POV:  
"She's warming up to me," Portman said as he watched Alex walk away with Shane.  
"You wish," Adam said beside me.  
"What's that suppose to mean rich boy," Portman said turning to face Adam.  
"What do think," Adam told him. "She would never in a million years go out with you. You're so not her type."  
"Oh like you know anything about women," Portman said. "If you did maybe you would have a girlfriend."  
"Whatever," Adam told him. We were all just standing around watching in shock. This was so unlike Adam.  
"Keep watching, rich boy and maybe you'll learn something when I finally win her over," Portman told him.  
"I won't because its never going to happen," Adam said.  
"Oh yeah. That babe is madly in love with me. She's just playing hard to get. Her type always does," Portman said tauntingly.  
That comment made even me mad. I was about to say something to Portman when Adam did something that took us all totally by surprise. Before anyone had any time to react, Adam punched Portman in the jaw. Luckily, for Adam the punch took Portman completely by surprise too. By the time he had gotten over his shock and was ready to retaliate Adam was already through the front door and in the building. Portman started going after him but Fulton stopped him.  
"Let it go," Fulton told him stepping in front of Portman and keeping him from going into the building. The rest of us were still in shock over actually seeing Adam punch someone not to mention punching someone as big a Portman. "That last comment was way out of line anyway," Fulton told him.  
"Get out of my way," Portman said trying to get past Fulton. I saw Guy and Averman who were standing the closest to Portman back up a couple of steps. I couldn't say I blamed him.  
"Come on, lets go for a walk," Fulton said finally getting Portman to turn around and head away from the building.  
We watched the two bash brothers walk off into the dark with Portman muttering how he was going to get Adam back. I could hear the others start whispering among themselves as I headed toward the dorm building. I wanted to go talk to Adam and see if he was okay. 


	9. Aftermath

Charlie's POV:  
I made my way up the stairs and down the hall to Adam's room. I knocked on the door and didn't get an answer. I tired the door knob and found the door locked. 'Smart guy', I thought to myself. I knocked on the door again.  
"Adam, its just me. Please let me in," I called out. Just when I thought I was going to have to go get Jesse to unlock the door I heard Adam undoing the lock on the other side of the door. He opened the door and let me inside.  
"Are you okay?" was the first thing out of my mouth as I shut the door behind me.  
"Yeah, I'm fine until Portman gets a hold of me. I don't know what I was thinking," Adam said.  
"You're not the only one. You took us all by surprise."  
"Portman's going to kill me when he gets a hold of me," Adam said worriedly sitting down on his bed.  
"You're over reacting," I told him although I wasn't completely convinced of that myself. A few minutes ago Portman had indeed looked like he could kill Adam. "He'll cool off."  
"What he said about Alex, what he was applying... no one has ever made me that mad in my life. I don't know what got into me. I don't go around just hitting people." Adam was saying. I could tell he was upset over the whole incident.  
"No, that's my job," I said jokingly trying to get him to smile. It didn't work. I went back to being serious. "Portman was out of line. He made even me mad, and although I don't think I would've had the nerve to actually punch him but I was going to say something before you took a swing at him. By the way how's your wrist?" I asked him. From where I was standing it looked like it was a little swollen.  
"It hurts," he admitted quietly. I knelt down in front of him so I could get a better look at it.  
"It looks swollen I told him. Maybe we should go have it looked at," I said concerned because it was the same one he had injured a few years ago at the Junior Goodwill Games.  
"No, it doesn't hurt that much," Adam said. I knew that he just didn't want to try to explain the injury to anyone.  
"Well I'm going to go at least get some ice for it," I told him with a sigh. As I stood up and started leaving the room the door opened and Jesse came in followed by Averman, Connie, Guy, Dwayne, Russ, Luis, Goldberg, Julie and Ken.  
"You okay Adam?" I heard Jesse ask as I made my way to the small kitchen that we had in the dorm on the first floor. It basically had just counter space, a sink, a refrigerator and a freezer that everyone in the building shared. I passed Fulton on my way down the steps.  
"Where's Portman?" I asked him.  
"Still out walking. Adam?"  
"He's upstairs. It looks like he injured his wrist punching Portman though. I'm going to get some ice to put on it."  
"That doesn't surprise me," Fulton said casually. " He got Portman good. I could already see a bruise starting on his jaw. Who would have ever thought Adam had that mean of a right hook," Fulton said with a half smile as we headed back upstairs to Adam's room.  
"His family has the money. He could always get plastic surgery and change his identity and Portman will never know who he is," I could hear Averman saying as we approached the room.  
"Averman, you're not helping," Jesse told him.  
"Sorry," Averman said as Fulton and I walked into the room. I handed the makeshift ice pack I had made to Adam who applied it to his wrist.  
"So exactly how pissed off is Portman?" Adam asked looking at Fulton.  
"Yeah, are we going to see another fight," Russ said. We all just looked at him. "I'm just asking what we all want to know," Russ said in his defense. We all just chose to ignore him and Fulton answered Adam's question.  
"He isn't too mad anymore. I managed to calm him down quite a bit and make him see that his last comment about Alex was going over the line. I think it might still be a good idea for you to avoid him the rest of the night though just to be on the safe side."  
"Oh, I plan on it," Adam said.  
"I think by tomorrow he'll have forgotten about it," Fulton said, "or at least as much as he can with the bruise he's going to have."  
"I'm not apologizing," Adam said. "I can't because I don't feel at all sorry. He never should've said what he said. He had it coming."  
I don't know about the others but I was surprised to hear those words coming from Adam. Adam was always so forgiving. I could just see Adam apologizing to Portman for hitting him and Portman breaking his nose. I knew then that Portman had really hit a nerve with Adam and I knew for sure that Adam liked Alex as more than just a friend.  
  
Adam's POV:  
On Wednesday morning I purposely got up late. I was trying to avoid running into Portman. It worked because by the time that I got to the cafeteria most of the Ducks had already finished eaten and had left. I sat down at the table where Charlie, Connie, Julie and Scooter were still sitting.  
"Running a little late aren't we," Scooter said as I sat down with my tray.  
"Yeah, I over slept," I told him. Connie and Charlie didn't look at all convinced.  
"Adam, I don't think you need to keep hiding from Portman. He didn't seem mad at all this morning at breakfast," Julie told him.  
"Yeah, well I think I stay away from him for a little bit longer just to be on the safe side," I told her. Poor Scooter looked completely confused. I don't think anyone had filled him in on what had happened after the game last night.  
"How's your wrist?" Charlie asked me.  
"It'll be okay," I told him. I had wrapped it in an ace bandage this morning as it was still a little sore. "Most of the swelling has gone down."  
"I bet Portman wishes he could say that," Connie said. "His jaw is still swollen and it's a wonderful shade of black and blue."  
"Are you the one who hit him?" Scooter asked finally putting the pieces of our conversation together.  
"Yeah, Adam nailed him good last night," Julie said.  
"Why?"  
"Portman said something about Alex that was out of line," Charlie told him. With Scooter also being friends with Alex I don't think he wanted to go into details and start things up again.  
"You know Adam, Alex can take care of herself," Scooter said.  
"I know that," I said. "He just made me mad. He never should've said what he did. Besides she wasn't there or she probably would have clobbered him herself."  
"You're probably right. She nailed Riley in the locker room after our first practice last year when he said girls shouldn't play hockey. Coach Wilson laughed when he found out how Riley got the black eye," Scooter said. Charlie, Julie, Connie and I all laughed.  
We talked until we had to leave the cafeteria in order to make our first class. I had only one class with Portman in the morning. Luckily I arrived at the classroom after him and as he was already sitting in the back where we all normally sit I purposely found a seat in the front of the classroom as far away from him as possible.  
At lunch time I sat with Shane and Alex so I could avoid him. I was surprised when Charlie came over and joined us. The conversation was a little strained at first. I know I was worried about how Shane and Charlie would get along and I think the both of them were wary of each other. Before long though Shane and Charlie were talking about how the football season was going and had discovered that they liked the same team.  
I found myself glancing over at the table where I normally sat with the rest of the Ducks. I saw Portman glance over my way a couple of times during his conversation with Fulton. I just hoped he wasn't planning on ways to get even.  
"Earth to Adam," Charlie said as he waved his hand in front of my face.  
"Yeah what?" I said bringing my attention back to my table.  
"Alex was asking us if we could help her go through some of the stuff from her old house that they stored up in the Larsons attic when she moved in with them," Charlie told me. "You up to it this afternoon."  
"Yeah, sure," I told them. "What time."  
"We're going to meet in front of the academic building as soon as classes let out this afternoon," Alex said.  
"Okay," I told her.  
"Are you okay Adam? You seem a little spacey."  
"Yeah, I'm fine." I told her. I certainly didn't want to go into what happened with Portman. There was no way I was going to tell her what Portman had said about her. I just hoped Charlie would keep his mouth shut too. Luckily he did.  
The four of us chatted until the bell rang and then Alex and Shane headed off for their science class. Charlie and I headed over to where we usually sat to meet up with Dwayne, Connie and Russ who we had class with. I was glad to see Portman and Fulton had already left the table.  
Together the five of us headed out of the cafeteria. As soon as I left the cafeteria though I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned around to see who it was and found myself face to face with Portman.  
  
Note: Okay, I'm going to leave it there so you can all wonder what Portman is going to do. Bankiesbabe99 -thank-you for your continual reviews. I appreciate it and I'm happy you enjoyed the end part of the last chapter with Portman. Crazy4nc128 I'm sorry I'm confusing you. I never actually said Charlie liked Alex other than as a friend but I guess maybe you could come up with that if you read between the lines (you guys have all been hoping they get together in the reviews so maybe that is what is confusing lol). Adam does definitely like Alex but that is all I'm saying about the pairings for now. Glad you liked the prank! Anee918 - I'm glad you enjoyed the prank and seeing Adam standing up to Portman and yes you're right that Adam defended Alex because he's in love with her. I'm glad you're enjoying the side stories and I will tell you I plan on getting into one more but you'll have to wait to find out about that one (probably the next chapter but no promises). Thank-you all for your reviews! 


	10. The Larson home

Note: It's a short chapter but I thought all of you might like to know what's going on with Portman. Thank-you anne918, C-chan96, Banksiesbabe99, and crazy4nc128 for your wonderful reviews.  
  
Adam's POV:  
I held my breath and waited for him to shove me up against the wall or punch me or something. I just knew whatever it was it was going to hurt. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Connie, Dwayne and Russ all take a step away from us. 'Oh great friends I have' I thought although I really couldn't blame them too much. If our positions had been reversed I probably would've done the same thing. To my surprise, Charlie took control of the situation.  
"What do you want Portman?" he asked casually actually taking a step toward Portman and putting himself in between me and Portman. The thought of us both ending up in the hospital crossed my mind.  
Portman didn't look phased at all. "Nothing really," he said. "I just wanted to tell Adam that I was sorry for what I said about Alex last night and that he can stop avoiding me because I'm not mad at him," he said quickly. I don't think I had ever heard Portman apologized for anything in his life. We all just stared at him in surprise.  
This very tiny voice in the back of my head was whispering apologize but I couldn't bring myself to do it. Truth was I wasn't sorry for hitting. Fine, he had apologized but he had still said it. He had still had the punch coming. Still staying mad at him was probably suicide and I wasn't ready to die.  
"Apology accepted," was all I said and hoped it was enough.  
"Okay," Portman said. "I need to get to my class," he told us and started walking down the hallway in the opposite direction we had been headed.  
"Are you crazy," Russ said incredulously as we started walking toward our class again. "You should have apologized."  
"For what," Connie told him. "Adam didn't do anything wrong."  
"No but he did punch a guy twice his size. Man I would be on my knees begging the guy to forgive me," Russ said. Somehow I couldn't quite picture it.  
"I can't apologize for something I don't feel sorry about," I told him.  
"Great a cake-eater and his morals. You know now wonder people like to beat kids like you up," Russ said with a smile. Connie and Charlie both punched him playfully on the arm for that comment.  
We went into the classroom and took our usual seats in the back. I was sitting in the very back row with Charlie right in front of me and Connie across the aisle from him. I couldn't help but notice the looks that kept passing between them which made me start to wonder if anything was going on between the two of them. If it was, how was Guy going to take it? I gave up my speculations as the teacher called on me to start reading the chapter.  
  
Alex's POV:  
"Alex," I heard Shane call and stopped and turned to see him hurrying through the halls toward me. "I'm so sorry," he started when he reached me, "but I'm not going to be able to come with you this afternoon. I have a meeting with Mr. Huntington right after school."  
"What did you do?" I couldn't resist asking. Mr. Huntington was our English teacher and nobody liked him especially not Shane.  
"Let's just say I said some things that probably shouldn't have been said in the classroom setting," Shane told me. I could just imagine what they had been.  
"Okay," I said choosing to leave it at that. I really didn't want the details as I was probably better off not knowing them. I've had my own problems with Mr. Huntington already this year.  
"Look, I'll come over as soon as I can and see if you guys still need any help," Shane told me. I knew he felt bad that he couldn't be there for me. Most of the stuff that I had up in the Larson's attic were things that had been in my parents bedroom. I had been putting off going through the stuff until I felt ready. I still didn't feel completely ready (especially in light of what my mom had told me before she died about me being adopted. Part of me still didn't want to believe that). I was starting to doubt I would ever feel ready so I finally just decided to get it over with.  
"That would be great," I told him. "It's okay, I understand," I added giving him a quick hug before he walked back in the direction he had come to go face Mr. Huntington.  
I continued to walk to the front of the academic building. As soon as I stepped outside I could see Adam and Charlie waiting for me at the bottom of the steps. I hurried down the steps to join them.  
"Hi guys," I said as I joined them at the bottom of the steps. They both greeted me.  
"I guess we're just waiting on Shane now," Charlie said.  
"Actually, something came up and he can't make it right now. He's going to try joining us later."  
"What happened?" Adam asked as we headed over to the bus stop.  
"He had to meet with our English teacher. He let his mouth get him into trouble."  
"You guys have Mr. Huntington don't you?" Charlie asked me.  
"Yes," I said disgustedly. There are some people that I dislike but very few that I would actually say I hate. However, Mr. Huntington is one of those few that I would say I hate.  
"From what I hear about him, I'm hoping I don't get stuck with him next year," Charlie said.  
"So do I," I told him "because you'd never be able to keep your mouth shut and you'd probably be having more meeting with him than Shane and I put together."  
"Thanks for the vote of confidence," Charlie commented.  
"You're welcome," I told him as the bus pulled up.  
The three of us got on the bus and found two empty seats near the middle. Adam and I sat together and Charlie sat behind us. The three of us chatted until we got to the closest stop to the Larson's house which was only a few doors down from Adam's house. We talked the whole time that we walked toward North Hennepin Ave.  
"You okay?" I whispered to Adam as I led them up the Larson's front walk. Charlie was right behind us.  
"Yeah, its just I haven't been this close to this house in years. I guess its just feels a little weird," Adam whispered back.  
I gave Adam a reassuring smile and the took his hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. Adam smiled back at me. I tried the front door and found it locked so I got my key out and let us in.  
As we walked in I heard noise in the kitchen so I knew someone was home. I led Adam and Charlie into the kitchen to see who was there. Mrs. Larson was at the table cutting up vegetables. She looked up as I entered the room.  
"Hi Alex," she said with a smile. "I wasn't expecting you to be home this afternoon."  
"I thought its was about time I started going through some of the stuff I have in the attic," I told her. She nodded sympathetically. "I brought a couple of friends with me," I told her. "This is Charlie Conway and I'm sure you remember Adam," I told her indicating the two boys behind me.  
"Of course," Mrs. Larson said putting down the knife and making her way over to us. She gave Adam a hug which I think surprised Adam a little bit. "Shane told me you two were on speaking terms again," she said to him holding him at arm's length. "I was so happy to hear that. How have you been, Adam? Your mother told me about your problems with your Dad. I think that was a terrible thing for him to do."  
"I'm doing okay," Adam said smiling and looking much more at ease with being in the Larson's house again. "I've been staying with Coach Bombay and he's been really good to me."  
"Well, that's good to hear and if you need anything don't hesitate to ask," she told him finally letting him go.  
"Thank-you," Adam told her.  
Mrs. Larson turned her attention to Charlie who was still standing behind me trying to stay out of the little reunion that was taking place.  
"Charlie, its nice to meet you," Mrs. Larson said holding out her hand which Charlie politely shook. "You skated with the Ducks didn't you?"  
"Yes, I did." Charlie told her.  
"Would you kids like anything to drink or eat?" she asked us.  
"No thank-you," the three of us all replied.  
"We're going to head upstairs and get started," I told her.  
"Okay," she said. "Just remember there is no rush. That stuff can stay up there as long as you want it to," she told me.  
"I know," I told her and gave her a quick hug. I don't know how I would have gotten through my mom's last illness and death if it hadn't been for her. She had been there for me through it all. Mrs. Larson had even offered to pay someone to help me track down my birth mother if I decided I wanted to try and find her. I still wasn't sure I wanted to do that though.  
I led Charlie and Adam out of the kitchen and upstairs to the attic. 


	11. A photograph

Jesse's POV:  
After practice on Wednesday afternoon, I came walking out of the gymnasium with a couple of the guys from the team. We were all joking around and I almost didn't notice her. Alisha Brown was leaning up against the wall across from the gymnasium chatting with another JV basketball cheerleader.  
As we came out, Alisha looked up and smiled at us. I wanted to believe she was smiling just for me.  
"Make a move, Hall," Brad Wilson whispered to me.  
"Are you crazy?" I whispered back.  
"Come on," Jerry Evans, the other guy I was with, said. "She obviously likes you. She was eyeing you all last night at the game. Didn't you notice?"  
"You think so?" I asked him not really convinced. I hadn't really noticed that. I had noticed Russ flirting with her which was why I had avoided him most of the day. I was starting to wish that little punk had minded his own business out in LA during the Junior Goodwill Games.  
"Go for it," Brad said again. He pretended to drop the basketball he was carry and it rolled toward the two girls.  
With a sigh I went to retrieve it. Talk about obvious ploys. This was embarrassing. By the time I reached the two girls the other cheerleader had picked up the ball and had handed it to Alisha. As I approached she held it out to me.  
"Sorry, about that," I told her. As I took the ball from her our hands brushed. I wanted more than that though. I wanted to be able to walk the halls holding her hand. "Brad always has been a klutz," I told her.  
"Not a problem," she said smiling again. I loved that smile.  
"So I was wondering if maybe you'd want to go catch a movie or something sometime?"I asked her. I was so sure she was going to tell me no. I didn't stand a chance. How did I even let Brad and Jerry get me into this.  
"Sure," she said surprising me. It took a moment for it to register because I was so certain her answer was going to be no. "Actually, I'm not doing anything tonight. How about catching a movie after dinner."  
"Um, yeah sure. That would be great," I told her.  
"Great," Alisha told me with a big smile on her face. "I'll pick you up at six," she told me.  
"Okay," I told her and watched her disappear down the hallway with her friends.  
"All right Hall," Jerry said when the girls were out of sight.  
"Don't you just love my love matching skills," Brad said.  
I threw the basketball at him. He went to catch it but he missed it and it bounced away. As Brad chased the ball I said, "like I was saying, Brad always has been a klutz."  
  
Alex's POV:  
Going through the stuff was even harder than I thought it would be. I was actually glad for the dim light in the attic as there were a couple times that I had to wipe tears away and I was trying not to let Charlie and Adam know. I think they did thought.  
Between the two of them they were trying to keep a string of light conversation going for which I was thankful. The conversation helped me to keep from dwelling on what I was doing too much.  
Right then, Charlie and Adam were busy making predictions for the NBA season. I was listening to the two of them but staying out of the conversation. I didn't mind watching basketball from time to time but didn't really follow it that much. I could probably name half the teams in the league and a few of the players but that was it. Half the time I wasn't even sure what Adam and Charlie were talking about.  
And then Adam stopped talking in the middle of a sentence. I looked up from the stuff I was sorting through. Adam was standing there holding a couple of envelopes in his hands. He looked up from them and looked right at me. I could tell by the look in his eyes that he didn't want to tell me what he had found.  
I walked over to where he was standing so I could look over his shoulder at the envelopes he was holding. As soon as I saw who they were from I understood why he was finding it hard to tell me what he had found. The envelopes were from an adoption agency and addressed to my mom and dad. Or should I say my adopted mom and dad. I reached out and slowly took the envelopes from Adam's hands.  
"What did you find?" Charlie asked. He was still sitting on the floor next to the box he had been going through.  
"Stuff from an adoption agency," I told him still looking at the envelopes.  
"Why don't you open them. Maybe there is some clue to who you're birth parents were," Charlie said.  
"That's what I'm afraid of," I told him softly.  
"If you're not ready then put them up somewhere," Adam told me. "Wait to open them until you're sure you want to know."  
"And if I never feel ready. If I decide I don't want to know anything about my birth parents?"  
"Then leave them unopened."  
"If you opened them you would have family again," Charlie said quietly from across the room.  
"Would I? I mean how do I know they would even want anything to do with me? I mean they gave me up to begin with," I said.  
"Is that what you're afraid of? Being rejected again," Adam asked me.  
I thought for a moment. "Yes I guess it is."  
"There could've been a lot of reasons you're parents gave you up for adoption. Maybe they weren't ready for a child? Maybe they didn't feel they could provide for you properly? You'll never know unless you find out who they were."  
I thought about Charlie's words. I guess deep down I really did want answers to my questions. Ever since my mom had told me I was adopted there has been a part of me that wanted to know who I was. What reason did my birth parents have for giving me up? And Charlie was right. Part of me did want to have family. Sure the Larson's were great but it wasn't the same.  
I sat down on a nearby trunk and opened the first envelope. The first letter was basically a letter to the Paris' telling them that a baby had come up for adoption. The second envelope I looked at had copies of all the adoption papers in it but know mention of the name or names of the people who were putting the baby, putting me, up for adoption. The third one however was different.  
Inside the third envelope I found a short letter from my birth mother. It was basically a note telling the Paris' little things about me, like my sleeping habits, things that stopped me from crying, what kind of baby foods I liked and didn't like. There was also a photograph in it of me as a baby and a young woman. My birth mother. I knew what she looked like. If I wanted to track her down I had something tangible to go on.  
I heard Adam let out a little gasp. He had been looking over my shoulder as I went through the envelopes. Charlie was still sitting across the room and I had been filling him in on what I was finding.  
I looked at Adam wondering what was going on. He reached out for the photo and I handed it over to me. He took a closer look at it before standing up and walking toward Charlie.  
"Charlie, take a look at this photo," he said as he handed the photo over to him.  
  
Note: I know, its an evil place to stop it but I need to get to sleep. This will probably be the last update for the next couple of days, because as long as weather permits I'm going away for the weekend. Thanks to crazy4nc128, C-chan96, Banks99, Banksiesbabe99 and anne918 for reviewing chapter 10. Can't wait to hear what you think of this chapter. 


	12. Anticipation

Note: Hi all. Here's the update that I'm sure you've been waiting impatiently for. Thank you C-chan96, DuckHockey, crazy4nc128, anne918, Banksiesbabe99 and Jennifer for you reviews and sorry about the cliff hanger but I have to admit it was fun reading all the guesses. And in case anyone was curious the trip went well even though I could've done without fighting with the snow at the airport on Friday which made for quite an adventure. Hopefully the trip this weekend is a little less adventuress. Well, I'll let you get to ready so you can all stop being in suspense, lol.  
  
Charlie's POV:  
I took the photo that Adam handed me and took a look at it. I could feel my jaw drop. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I looked over at Adam and could see in his eyes that he was looking for confirmation. I noticed Alex looking back and forth between the two of us.  
"What is going on?" She asked looking at Adam for an answer and then when she didn't get one looking toward me.  
I looked at the photo one last time. There was no denying it. I had seen the woman in the photograph before. In fact I had seen it plenty of times. I took a deep breath.  
"I know who this woman in the photograph is," I told her finally looking straight at her. Alex didn't say anything but I could see the impatience and the unspoken question in her eyes. "It's my mother, when she was younger." I said.  
And as soon as I said it I felt resentment. Not at Alex but at my mom. I thought the two of us had always been close. For the most part it had always been just her and me. Yet, she had this secret that she had never once even mentioned. All the time I spent growing up wishing that I had a brother and a sister and little did I know, I did. I had an older sister. How could she not have told me that? How could she have given a baby away for adoption and then have another one not even two years later. It didn't make sense.  
As I looked at Alex now I could see some resemblance between us and Alex had red hair like my mom did. And then there was the temper. I then Adam's words from the week before came back to me. He had told me that Alex reminded him a lot of me. Well, now we all knew why.  
"Are you sure?" Alex asked me. She looked as if she was having about as hard of a time grasping the idea as I was.  
"I'm positive," I told her. I was debating on whether or not I wanted to actually asked the question I wanted to ask her. I finally decided to just go for it. "Are you going to tell her?" I asked her.  
Alex paused for a moment. I think she trying to decide what she really wanted. Part of me was hoping she would say no. Then maybe I could forget all about this photo and the fact that I had an older sister that my mom had never told me about but deep down I knew I couldn't do that. Truth was I wanted a sister. I wanted to know my sister. To have her a part of the family even more so now that she was alone. But I couldn't help but wonder if it would actually work out after sixteen years.  
"Yes," she finally said. "I at least want some answers. I've come this for and if I back off now I know that eventually I will regret it if I just let it go."  
"I'll go with you," I told her. She had only met my mom briefly over the weekend when she was helping us move. She didn't really know my mom that well but that was only part of my reason. I also to be there for her and I had my own questions that I wanted to answers too. "She's off tonight," I suggested wanting to get it over with.  
"Okay," Alex said.  
We went back to sorting through the stuff but it was much quieter. I don't think Adam knew what to say and Alex was probably wondering the same thing I was. How was my mom going to take it tonight when we told her what we had found out.  
Not to long after that Shane showed up. No one mentioned what we had discovered. I still didn't know Shane all that well and I figured if anyone should tell him it should be Alex. We worked until Mrs. Larson called us down for dinner.  
  
Jesse's POV:  
I was a nervous wreck during dinner. I kept thinking about my date with Alisha. I wanted it to go well. I didn't want to do anything stupid. Of course I dropped my fork three time during dinner and managed to knock my glass of soda over. Poor, Connie who was sitting across from me ended up wearing some of it. Needless to say she wasn't to happy.  
After that little incident I left the dinner table before anything else could go wrong. I was to nervous to eat anyway. I headed back to my dorm room to start getting ready. I was disappointed to find the room empty when I got back. I had been hoping that Adam would have been back even though he wouldn't have been much for advice. Besides Connie, Julie, and Alex I don't think I have ever seen Adam talk to a girl. I think they scare him. Still, it would have been nice to have some on around to talk to who I knew would at least listen to me. Maybe talking about it would have helped ease my nerves some.  
After trying on just about every article of clothing I owned, I finally decided on the first outfit I had put on. On second thought maybe it was a good thing that Adam wasn't around. If my friends ever found out about the outfit changes I would never hear the end of the jokes, especially from Connie and Julie who we were always making fun of when they took a long time to get ready. I had even mentioned to Connie one time that I was surprised she didn't accessorize her hockey uniform.  
I glanced over at the clock and saw that it was only five thirty. I still had a half hour before Alisha was going to be here. I sat down at my desk and attempted to start some of my homework. That was a loss cause. I knew after a couple of minutes that I wasn't going to get anywhere. Finally, I decided to go see if maybe Guy was in his room. At least he had some experience with girls.  
I knocked on his door and was relieved when he opened it.  
"Great, you're here," I said walking into his room without being asked.  
"Well hello to you to," I heard Guy said as he closed the door behind us.  
"I'm sorry," I said finally realizing what I had just done. I just wasn't thinking straight. "I guess I'm not thinking straight," I told him sitting down on his desk chair only to stand back up again and start pacing.  
"What's up?" Guy asked sitting calmly down on his bed and leaning up against the wall. I only wished I could be that relaxed.  
"I'm nervous about my date tonight," I told him.  
"You have a date?" Guy said surprised. Come to think of it I had forgotten to mention it to any of my friends this afternoon. "With who?"  
"Alisha Brown," I told him with a smile.  
"Isn't that the cute cheerleader that Russ was annoying at the game last night and who kept making eyes at you all night," Guy said.  
"She was not," I said quickly. Probably a little to quickly.  
"If you say so," Guy said with a mischievous grin on his face. After all the grief I had given him about dating Connie maybe coming to talk to him wasn't the best idea but I was here now.  
"That isn't the point anyway," I told him hoping he'd drop the subject. I knew Russ liked her too which was why we hadn't been getting along here lately. "I'm nervous about tonight. What if I do something stupid?"  
"Just relax and be yourself," Guy said growing seriously. She obviously likes you if she's going out with you. "She's going to be just as nervous as you are."  
"You think so?" I asked him.  
"I know so. It's only natural to be nervous about your first date. I'm going out with Deborah Finks this Friday night and I'm nervous about that and I've been out on a date before," Guy told me.  
This was the first time I had heard anything about Guy going out with Deborah but I wasn't asking questions. I was to wrapped up in my problems to even be curious about it.  
"Well what do I say to her?" I asked. I stopped pacing and turned to face him.  
"Just talk to her like you would talk to any of your friends. Ask her how her day was. Find out what the two of you have in common," Guy said. "Talk about the game Tuesday night."  
"Isn't that a bit boring," I couldn't help but say.  
"It isn't boring its honest. What do you plan on doing make things up so you can seem more interesting to her.  
"Now that's an idea," I said.  
"I was kidding," Guy said quickly. "If you start making things up you'll soon forget what you told her not to mention that its wrong."  
"I guess you're right," I said reluctantly. "I guess I'll have to stick to be plain boring me."  
Before Guy could say anything there was a knock on the door.  
"Come in," Guy called. The door opened and Portman stuck his head in.  
  
"Have you seen, Jesse?" Portman asked.  
"I'm right here," I told him.  
"You're ride is waiting downstairs," he said with a grin as he opened the door up all the way and came in. Fulton was right behind him.  
"Man, I wish I had a chauffer that looked that good," Fulton commented with a smile of his own.  
"Very funny," I said not in the mood for joking. I walked out of the room and headed downstairs leaving my friends to make whatever jokes they felt like making. 


	13. The story

Note: Okay so your guesses were right. I have to make my readers happy some of the time don't I even though I had been planning that plot twist since the beginning. Thank you to Banksiesbabe99, crazy4nc128, Jennifer, C-chan96 and anne918 for your reviews.  
  
Casey's POV:  
After we ate dinner Gordon headed to the grocery store to pick up some things we needed. I did the dinner dishes quickly and then headed to our room to unpack some more of the stuff in there. I opened one box that had some old photo albums in them. Some were ones from when I was a kid that I had gotten when my mother had passed away five years ago. I closed the box and pushed it off to the side. I figured I might not even bother to unpack those. I opened the next box which had clothes in it. I started taking the clothes out and putting them away.  
I was half-way through the box when I heard the front door open. I figured it was just Gordon coming back so I kept putting clothes away. I wanted to get done with this so that I could start my plans for the wedding. I still had no idea who to make my maid of honor. I was going to ask Julie and Connie to be brides maid but I didn't know either of them well enough for them to be my maid of honor.  
"Mom, where are you at?" I heard Charlie call from downstairs. I was surprised. I had expected him to be here tonight. He usually stayed at the dorms most of the time anymore.  
"I'm upstairs," I called back as I headed out of the hall and toward the stairs. "What's going on, Charlie?" I asked him as I walked downstairs. He was standing at the bottom of the steps. The girl Hawk I had met over the weekend was standing beside him. It took me a moment to remember her name but then it came to me - Alex.  
"Nothing is wrong Mom," he said but I could tell he wasn't telling the whole truth. He was here on something other than just a social call. "Can we talk?" he asked me.  
"Sure," I said and headed over to the armchair in the living room. Luckily I had finished unpacking the stuff downstairs although the place looked empty compared to what I was use to. Even moving to apartments worth of stuff into the house there still wasn't enough stuff to make the house look full. I figured we would change that shortly. "What do you want to talk about?" I asked as Charlie and Alex sat down on the couch.  
I saw the two of them exchange glances. I couldn't help but wonder what was going on but I waited patiently. It was finally Alex who started talking.  
"Um, I'm not sure how to say this," the girl started uncertainly. "Before she died my mother told me that she had adopted me. She didn't tell me who my birth parents were but we were going through some of her stuff today and I found some letters from the adoption agency. In one of the letters I found this," she said holding out a photograph to me.  
My heart skipped a beat. I didn't need to look at the photo. I knew which one it was. I had lost track of how many nights I had fallen asleep thinking about the little girl who I had given up for adoption. Wondering what kind of person she had turned out to be. Knowing that I would probably never see her again and yet here she sat in my living room. The girl who a few days ago I didn't want at my house because she was a Hawk.  
I glanced down at the picture I now had in my hands. It was only one of many I had of my first child. Even though I had only had her for four months I had never forgotten her. I had packed the pictures away though hiding them from everyone. The only one who knew about her was my mother. Everyone else I knew just assumed that Charlie was my first and only child. I had at one time thought about telling Charlie when he got to a certain age but then he had started longing to have a sibling and I just couldn't bring myself to tell him. How could I tell him that he did have an older sister but that more than likely he was never going to meet her.  
"Why?" Alex asked me softly.  
I looked up from the picture and looked at the two kids, my two kids sitting next to each other. Why had I never noticed the resemblance before. Both of them were looking at me and waiting for me to answer. I knew both of them wanted answers. Both of them deserved answers. My only fear was that they wouldn't understand.  
"I was young at the time, still in highschool. It was right before the beginning of my senior year when I found out I was pregnant," I told her. "I couldn't bring myself to have an abortion so I decided to have the baby. My boyfriend wanted nothing to do with the child. He wanted me to have an abortion but I was bound and determined to have that baby. At first I was planning on keeping the baby but I soon realized that it wasn't going to work. Both of my parents worked and going to school and trying to raise a kid was too much. It was either dropping out of school or being a mother and I knew if I dropped out of highschool I wouldn't have a chance at provided for a child. I did graduate from high school and my boyfriend and I got married and not long after that I had Charlie."  
"Then you didn't give me up for adoption because you didn't want me?" Alex said softly.  
"Of course not, Alexandra" I said quickly. "I just wanted you to have what I couldn't provide for you at the time. I wanted you to be happy."  
"I was," Alex told me. "My Mom and Dad both loved me very much and gave me everything I ever wanted. Could have ever needed until they died."  
"I'm sorry to hear that," I told her honestly. "What happened?"  
"My Dad was killed in a car accident a few years ago and my Mom died from cancer right before Christmas," she said softly. I could see the tears welling up in her eyes. I couldn't blame her. She had loss the only mother she had ever known. It had been easy on me when my mother died and I was much older than she was.  
I stood up and stepped toward them. Charlie moved over to give me room and I sat down between them. "Well, if you want, you have a home here," I told her putting my arm around her shoulders. I had never in my wildest dreams thought I might have my first child back. After all I wasn't about to tear her away from the only life she had ever known but now that she was alone I knew I couldn't give her up again.  
"I'd like that," Alex told me softly reaching up and wiping some tears away. I was holding back tears of my own.  
"I'm so lucky to have two wonderful children," I said putting my arm around Charlie and pulling him close.  
"Welcome to the family sis," Charlie said with a smile  
"Its nice to be apart of a family," Alex replied.  
The door opened and Gordon walked in with a couple of grocery bags. I could tell by the look on his face that the sight he saw before him was not what he had been expecting. It looked like I was going to have to explain everything again. Hopefully, he would take it as well as the children had seemed to. 


	14. Telling the Ducks

Note: C-chan96, Banksiesbabe99, crazy4nc128 and anne918 thank you all for reviewing last chapter. I'm glad you all enjoyed it. I was in the mood to right something cheery so I decided to make a happy reunion even if it wasn't exactly 100% realistic. Well, here's how Gordon takes the news.  
  
Gordon's POV:  
Seeing Casey, Charlie and Alex sitting on the coach was the last thing I expected when I came home from the grocery store. I had expected Casey to be somewhere in the house unpacking. I could've dealt with Charlie being around. It was his house now after all. Seeing Alex was a surprise. Seeing Casey hugging the two of them though was a little much. 'What the hell was going on' I though to myself. I wanted to say it loud but I restrained myself. I'm sure there was some kind of explanation. Before I could figure out what to say though Casey stood up and walked toward me.  
"Hello, honey," she said sweetly coming toward me. "Let me help you with that," she said taking one of the grocery bags from me. I looked from her to the kids still sitting on the couch. They both looked like they weren't sure what to say.  
"Hi," I said. "Is there something someone would like to tell me?" I asked. I knew something was going on, I just had no idea what so ever what it was.  
"Let's take the stuff in the kitchen and I'll try to explain everything while we put this stuff away," Casey said not giving me much of a choice as she started walking toward the kitchen.  
"Mom, we're going to head back to the dorms," Charlie said as he and Alex stood up. "We still have homework to do."  
"Okay," Casey said. "Be careful," she told them as they started for the door.  
"We will," Charlie said over his shoulder as he opened the door for Alex. "Bye Coach," Charlie said.  
"Bye Charlie," I told him as he shut the door behind him and Alex. I headed toward the kitchen wanting some answers.  
I walked into the kitchen to find Casey already putting groceries away. I sat my bag down on the counter next to the one she had brought in.  
"Casey, what's going on?" I asked. I was quickly losing patience. I wanted to know what was going on. What could possibly be so bad that she didn't want to tell me. She picked up something from the counter in front of her and handed it to me.  
I looked down to see that I was holding an envelope with a picture sitting on top of the envelope. I looked at the picture. I could tell the picture was of Casey, probably when she was about eighteen. She was holding a baby and I knew the baby was not Charlie. I had seen Charlie's baby pictures before.  
I looked up at Casey questionly. What was it that she was so resistant to tell me?  
"I had a baby before Charlie," she said quietly. "I was still in high school at the time. I had tried to keep the baby but I soon realized I was too young. The father wanted nothing to do with the baby and neither he or his family would help out in any way. My mother helped me out as much as we could. She loved the baby girl as much as I did. But it was too much for us. I wanted to finish school and she had a full time job trying to support us. I decided to give the baby up for adoption so she could be a part of a family that could give her everything that I couldn't provide at the time."  
"Why are you telling me this now?" I asked her. It was part of the past. I never thought that Casey was perfect. Never expected it because my past wasn't exactly perfection itself. After all I had met her because of being sentenced to community service because of being arrested for driving under the influence. There were still other things about my past that I had never told her. Things that I really didn't think made a difference. Just like I couldn't see what this had to do with us now. I didn't care if she had three or four kids I didn't know about. I knew she was faithful to me and that was all I cared about.  
"I didn't tell you before because I figured it was a part of my past," Casey said quietly. "I never thought I would ever see my baby girl again but I have."  
All of a sudden it dawned on me. That was why the three of them had been so close when I walked in. I had walked in on a family reunion. Alex was the baby girl that Casey had given up for adoption sixteen years ago. That was what had been bothering me since I met her. It hadn't just been that I recognized her from the Hawks. She had Casey's red hair and she and Charlie shared a certain resemblance to each other. I just hadn't been able to put my finger on that earlier.  
"Alex is your daughter?" I asked wanting actually confirmation to what I already knew to be true.  
Casey nodded. "When I heard her last name this past weekend it didn't even dawn on me that it was the same name as the couple who adopted my baby. Kathy and Thomas Paris. I had never actually met them. I wanted it that way. There were a few letters exchanged during the process between us but that was it."  
"Her mother recently died didn't she?" I asked trying to recall things I had read when I had looked into her school file. I had looked into both her and Scooter. I wanted to know what kind of kids I was working with. I also had been curious as to why she hadn't been playing hockey last season. I had found out that she had done a lot of last semester as an independent study because her mother had been ill.  
"Yes," Casey said. "Just before Christmas. That's when Kathy told Alex she had been adopted. The kids were sorting through her stuff this afternoon that Alex had stored in the Larson's attic and found that and the other papers about the adoption." Casey paused for a second. "Gordon she's all alone and she is my daughter. I told her she could come live with us if she wanted to. I know its another inconvenience for you..."  
"Hold it. Stop right there. Its not an inconvenience. She's your daughter just like Charlie's you son. She's welcome in this house. We have the extra room. It won't be any problem at all."  
"But what about if we have another child..."  
"Then we figure that out when we come to it," I told her taking the couple of steps I needed in order to take her in my arms and hold her close. I knew there was going to be some papers and stuff to fill out with Alex coming here. Casey had to be given back custody of her daughter which I couldn't see being a problem given the circumstances and Alex was actually old enough that she had a lot of say in who became her legal guardian. But I didn't think we needed to bring that up right now. We could sort it out the next meeting we had with the lawyer we had gotten to handle my adoption of Charlie. Since Casey and I were getting married I had told her that I wanted to officially adopt Charlie something her last husband had never wanted to do. In fact, I'd wait till then to mention the topic about adopting Alex too. I wanted us to be a family. I was going to make this work. Charlie's POV:  
Alex drove us back to campus and after parking her car she walked with me to my dorm building. Adam was waiting outside on the steps for us.  
"How did it go?" He asked as soon as we were withing talking distance.  
"Pretty well," Alex said. "At least I know now that she didn't give me away because she didn't want me. She had given me up for adoption because she felt she was too young to provide for me. She thought I would be better off with someone else."  
"The reunion got cut kind of short though. Coach came home and we sort of made ourselves scarce why my mom broke the news to him."  
"I hope he takes it well," Alex said. She sounded worried. I wondered if maybe she was scared she would lose the family she had just found.  
"He will," I told her confidently. "Look he took Adam in didn't he."  
"Thanks a lot," Adam said as Alex laughed. I was glad to see her laughing. I wanted her to be happy. I had the sibling I had always wanted and there was no way I was going to lose her.  
"Besides you'll always have me," I told her. "I'm not going anywhere."  
"That might not be a good thing," Adam said with a grin. I punched him playfully on the arm.  
"Thanks, Charlie," Alex said giving me a hug. "That means a lot to me."  
"Hey Conway, I thought you didn't have a crush on her," I heard Portman call out from behind us. Alex quickly took a step back from me. Telling the Ducks about what we had found out today was going to be interesting but I knew we couldn't keep it a secret nor did I want to.  
"I don't," I told him. "Portman, Fulton, meet my sister," I told them. I enjoyed watching Portman's smirk disappear. Fulton just stared in disbelief.  
"Very funny, Conway," Portman said finally convinced that I was joking around.  
"Are you serious?" Fulton asked not sure whether or not to believe me. I expected most of the Ducks to react that way at first. "How?"  
"Why don't we go inside and find the others and then I'll explain everything to everyone at the same time," I said.  
"I still say it's a trick," I heard Portman mutter. I saw Fulton elbow him in the side but I chose to ignore the remark. It wasn't worth commenting on.  
"I got to go," Alex said. "I'll catch up with you guys tomorrow," she told me and Adam.  
"Okay," Adam and I both replied. Then the four of us headed inside to round up the other Ducks. Within twenty minutes we were all gathered in the common room. No one else was around so we were all lounging on the couch and on the floor around the couch.  
"Okay, Charlie so what's the big news?" Luis asked sounding a little irritated. From what I understood Portman had sort of forced him off the phone with his girlfriend Mindy so I guess I could understand him being just a little bit irritated.  
"Well I think all of you know by now that Alex was adopted by the Paris'," I began. The subject had come up a few times when we were altogether. "Well Alex has found her birth mom."  
I could see realization starting to dawn on people faces. Most of my friends knew where this was going. Averman and Dwayne both looked a little lost though.  
"But what does that have to do with you Charlie?" Averman asked. I saw Dwayne look gratefully over toward Averman. I think he had probably wanted to ask the question but was afraid of looking stupid again not that I thought Dwayne was stupid. He was very bright. It just took him a little longer to catch onto things than most others.  
"It concerns me because my mom is also her birth mother. Alex is my older sister." I told them.  
Everyone started talking at once. Guy, Jesse and Connie were genuinely happy for me. I had been the closest to them growing up and they knew how much I had always wanted a sibling. After the intial surprise wore off things got a little calmer. My friends started asking me questions. Some of them I could answer and some I couldn't. Some of them were questions that I should have thought of myself. I was happy to see that my friends, even those who didn't particularly care for Alex, were happy for me.  
I have no idea when Adam left the room. I hadn't seen him slip out. I didn't even realize he had left until I saw Jesse leaving the room. I didn't really give it much thought though. I was to excited about sharing this moment with my other friends to really worry about it.  
  
Jesse's POV:  
I saw Adam slip quietly out of the room not long after Charlie had told us his news. I was happy for Charlie and I wanted to stay with the others and find out more about what was going on but I was also worried about Adam. I had thought he would be happy for Charlie. The two of them had grown close over the last few months. So close in fact that sometimes I felt like the third wheel when I was around them. But I had seen the look on Adam's face as he left the room. Something had been bothering him.  
Without saying anything to anyone I got up from my seat on the end of the couch and left the common room to follow Adam. I figured he had probably headed up to our room so that was where I went first. As I opened the door to our room I found Adam laying on his bed staring at the ceiling.  
"Penny for your thoughts," I said quietly pulling out the desk chair near by and sitting in it backwards. I rested my arms on the back of the chair waiting for Adam to say something. When he didn't volunteer anything I tried again. "Come on Adam. What's bugging you? I thought you would be happy for Charlie."  
"I am," Adam finally said still staring at the ceiling. "I guess I'm just also feeling sorry for myself. I miss my family Jesse. I mean my Dad is a jerk but I still want him to be proud of me. I lost count of the nights I have spent trying to figure out what I did wrong. Why my dad can't love me for who I am not, love me as his son and not some hockey star that will become famous."  
I didn't know what to say to him. I had never liked his father and as much as I hated to admit it, the fact that he had disowned Adam hadn't been any great surprise to me. I had been waiting for it to happen simply because from what I saw Adam could never be what Mr. Banks had wanted. Mr. Banks wanted perfection. No one was perfect. He wanted something that Adam, as hard as he had tried, could never give him. The way I saw it Mr. Banks didn't deserve to be a father, especially not to someone as sensitive and caring as Adam was. But I knew saying that wouldn't help. It would only make things worse.  
"Its kind of ironic that Charlie is getting the family he's always wanted just after I lost the family I grew up with."  
"So your mad at Charlie?" I asked trying to get Adam to talk about what he was feeling. I knew he wouldn't unless I pried so that was what I was going to do.  
"No its not that," Adam said quickly finally looking away from the ceiling. He slowly sat up on the side of his bed and faced me. "I guess I'm just feeling left out. Like I don't really belong anywhere."  
"Because now that Charlie has a real sister he might not see you like a brother anymore when Mrs. Conway and Coach Bombay get married?" When Adam didn't say anything I knew that I had hit on it. "Adam that isn't going to change anything. From what I've heard from you and Charlie both Bombay and Mrs. Conway want you to feel like you're a part of that family. Just because Alex is in the picture now isn't going to change that. The only thing that is going to stop you from being a part of that family is going to be you."  
"I don't understand," Adam said looking at me questionly.  
"You can't distance yourself from them Adam. It can't be easy being away from your family but there isn't much you can do about that but don't let your father ruin the rest of your life. You have people who care about you Adam and just because you don't share blood with them doesn't mean that they can't be family or that by letting yourself become part of a new family you care for your other family any less."  
Adam didn't say anything but I could tell he was at least considering my words. I decided to try a little humor to lighten the mood some.  
"Besides you're going to be a part of their family at some point anyway when you and Alex get married."  
"That's not funny," Adam told me.  
"Oh come on. I've seen the two of you together. You both like each other. Its obvious to everyone except maybe the two of you because you're both still playing the we're just friends role. Come on Adam, ask the girl out already."  
"And what if she's says no. If she goes back with Mrs. Conway then I'm going to have to live in the same house with her or go back to my house."  
"She won't say no," I told him. "Besides most guys would love to be in your position."  
"What's that suppose to mean?" Adam asked quickly.  
"You figure it out," I told him with a grin. "I'm going to see if they're still downstairs," I told Adam. "You coming?"  
"No, I really need to start my homework."  
"Okay, but if you want to talk don't hesitate. I mean that," I told him. He nodded and then I left the room. I could hear the Ducks still downstairs so I headed back downstairs to join them. 


	15. A couple weeks later

Note: crazy4nc128 and Banksiesbabe99 I'm glad you like the part with Jesse and Banksiesbabe99 I'm with you. I don't particularly care for Jesse but I don't hate him either so I guess I can write nice things about him. C- Chan96 I'm glad you are enjoying the story. This chapter is just for you and there is more Charlie/Connie to come after this chapter too so I hope you enjoy it.  
  
Charlie's POV:  
I walked to our normal table with Averman who was ranting about this project we had for English. We were required to write a short story. Averman was freaking out about because he said he didn't have one creative bone in his body. He may have had a point but I wasn't about to say that.  
As we approached the table I noticed Connie watching me. As soon as our eyes met though she looked down at the plate in front of her as if the meat surprise was the most interesting thing she had seen in a long time. I took an empty seat at the far end of the table, as far away from Guy as I could possibly get. I was avoiding Guy for the same reason Connie was trying to avoid me.  
***flashback***  
"Hey Connie, what are you doing tonight?" I asked leaning on the back of the couch in the common room. She was laying on the couch reading.  
"No special plans, why?" she asked not looking up from her book.  
"I was suppose to go out to eat with Alex and Adam tonight and I want someone to come with me so I don't feel like a third wheel," I told her. I had made plans to go with them before Adam had finally gotten up the nerve to tell Alex he liked her at the basketball game Friday night. Even though they were now actually dating they still insisted that I should come with them like we had originally planned. I did manage to find a date but she had just called and cancelled.  
"Sounds kind of like a date to me," Connie said still not looking up from the book.  
"Nonsense," I told her. "Its just four friends hanging out," I insisted. She finally looked up at me and the look on her face told me she wasn't buying it. "Okay, I guess it is sort of a date I told her but it'd be a mercy date," I insisted. "You'd be doing me a huge favor."  
"Fine," she said with a sigh. "It's not like I have anything better to do."  
"Besides," I told her. "I have to be a better date then some of the guys you've gone out with lately. Was the last date even human?"  
Connie threw her book at me. I caught the book with a laugh. "Be ready at seven," I told her handing her the book and backing out of the common room. I wasn't stupid enough to turn my back on her after that last comment.  
The night had gone smoothly and it had been a lot of fun. It was great seeing Adam actually happy for a change. I could tell something had been bothering him lately but he refused to talk about it. Adam had decided to walk Alex back to her dorm building which left me and Connie to walk to our building alone.  
"I had fun tonight," Connie said as we walked toward the building side by side.  
"Yeah, me too," I said. I looked over at her. I couldn't help but think about how pretty she was.  
"Hey look a shooting star," she said coming to a stop and pointing up at the sky. I didn't bother to even look. Without even thinking about it I had leaned over and kissed her.  
She took a step back surprised. I had to admit I was surprised myself. That wasn't suppose to happen. She was one of my best friends girlfriends or at least she had been for the last few years.  
"Um, I need to finish some homework," Connie said and the jogged up the steps and disappeared inside.  
"Nice move, Spazzway," I muttered to myself as I slowly walked toward the building and up to my room. I was happy to find that Guy was not in the room. I wasn't sure I was ready to face him.  
***end flashback***  
So here I was sitting at the same table as both Connie and Guy trying to pretend everything was just fine. I was starting to wish that I had just been a third wheel last night.  
"Earth to Charlie," I heard Averman saying. I wondered how long he had been trying to get my attention.  
"Sorry guys," I said looking around at my friends. "I guess I had my mind on other things," I said casually.  
"Like what," Jesse said casually.  
"Probably the wedding. Its coming up in two weeks," Julie said. "We're going tonight to pick out dresses."  
"Julie excited about wearing a dress. Somehow I can't picture it," Portman commented.  
"I wear dresses," Julie said defensively.  
"Only when you're trying to impress Scooter," Portman said. Julie stuck his tongue out at him.  
"Have they figured out how they're pairing us off yet Charlie?" Guy asked.  
"No, not yet," I said. "I think Gordon is about ready to give up," I told him. I was suppose to be Gordon's best man and Adam and Guy were going to be ushers. Since being reunited a couple of weeks ago my Mom had been spending a lot of time with Alex getting reacquainted with her daughter. I'd be lying if I said I hadn't been a little bit jealous at all the time they had been spending together but I thought I had been handling it well. I hadn't gone flying off the handle yet. Besides they had sixteen years to catch up on. So, it hadn't really come as any surprise to me when Mom had asked Alex to be her maid of honor. Julie and Connie were going to be brides maid. However, Guy and Connie's break-up and Adam and Alex getting together had been causing some headaches in trying to figure out how to pair us off. And now who knew what was going on between me and Connie.  
"You guys could always pull names and pair off that way," Averman said.  
"Don't you dare even suggested that to them," I told him. Gordon might have found it funny but my Mom probably would've started crying. Now that the day of the wedding was approaching she was starting to get very stressed out.  
"I was just joking,"Averman said.  
"You better be," I told him.  
"Chill Charlie," Fulton said.  
"Sorry," I said. "I guess I'm a little on edge myself lately."  
Russ opened his mouth to say something and then shut it. I guess for once he had actually thought before speaking. The mood I was in, it was probably a good thing.  
"How's the play going?" I asked looking at Ken but directing the question to both Connie and Ken. The conversation switched from the upcoming wedding to play rehearsals which was what I was hoping would happen.  
  
Alex's POV:  
I just wanted him to shut up. I really didn't care what he was saying. Not to mention the fact that I hadn't even been involved in the prank. Mr. Marvin, our science teacher, just assumed I was involved because he had caught Shane passing his teacher's addition book to Albert Sypher, our class clown, the two guys he always saw me hanging out with. The only thing I was guilty of was not telling him where his book was when he had started looking for it but the whole class was guilty of that.  
I glanced at the clock. If this little lecture lasted much longer I was going to be late for hockey practice which wasn't going to look good. It was our first official practice of the season. Not to mention Adam was out in the hallway waiting me.  
Mr. Marvin finally finished his lecture on giving people the respect they deserve, he should take his own advice, and let us go. I was surprised we got off that easy. I was expecting a detention or something. Scott would have loved that. I could just see me telling him that he'd have to handle practice alone because I had detention. He'd probably strangle me.  
As I walked out into the hallway I found Adam leaning up against the wall across from Mr. Marvin's classroom. He had my bag for practice slung over one shoulder and my hockey stick in one hand.  
"Your roommate got them for me," he said in answer to my unspoken question.  
"Thank-you," I told him giving him a quick kiss and taking my bag from him. "I still need to get over to the court quickly though or I'm still going to be late," I said starting down the hallway. Adam fell in step beside me and took my hand.  
"Well if you would show your teachers the proper respect," Shane said from behind me.  
"You be quiet," I told him over my shoulder. "It's your fault I got stuck in that classroom anyway. You're the one who originally took the book to begin with and you're the one who got caught passing it to Albert."  
"I didn't see you telling him where the book was when he first discovered it missing," Shane said.  
"Well excuse me. I thought I was trying to keep you out of trouble."  
"Lighten up Alex," Albert said. "It was a joke. So we had to listen to a lecture big deal. It's not like we ended up with detention."  
"Yeah, and you aren't going to be late for practice," I told him.  
"You're the coach. You can't get in trouble for being late," Albert insisted.  
"But it sets a bad example. Just because certain people don't care what kind of example they set doesn't mean I have to be that way to," I told him. We were outside by this time and I cut across the grass toward the hockey court to save time.  
"I resent that," Albert said. "I got some research to do at the library. Catch ya later Alex," he said as we passed the library. He went off in his own direction leaving Adam, Shane and I to walk the rest of the way to the roller hockey court by ourselves.  
I could see that everyone was already there including our three alternates, and by the looks of it almost everyone was ready. There were a couple kids on the sidelines still putting their skates on but most of them were just standing around talking. Scott however was pacing and looking extremely agitated.  
"I'll talk to you later," Adam said as we reached the gate. He handed me my hockey stick and gave me a quick kiss.  
"Okay," I said and then turned and walked into the hockey court as Adam and Shane headed off to where ever they were going.  
"There you are," Scott said as he saw me walking toward him. He stopped pacing and looked extremely relieved.  
"Sorry, had to listen to an extra lecture today thanks to Shane," I told him as I sat my stuff down and sat down next to my bag to put my skates on. "Besides, I thought you wanted to be super coach. You shouldn't have any trouble handling practice by yourself," I said with a grin.  
"Very funny," Scott told me. "You sure you're okay with handling drills by yourself?" He asked. We had planned on starting out practice with me doing drills with most of the teams while he worked on things with the goalies seeing as I knew next to nothing about being a goalie.  
"No problem," I said. "Why don't you take Allen too since he showed up today," Allen Tryst was one of alternates but he had been one of the candidates for goalie too.  
"Okay," Scott said.  
I finished putting my skates on and then gathered my group together and started with passing drills. We kept the two groups apart until we had about fifteen minutes left and then we split the team into two groups. I took half the team to do shooting drills with Julie as goalie while Scooter had the rest of the team with our back-up goalie, Simon in the net.  
I felt that practice went well. With any luck we would be ready for our first game come Friday afternoon. We ended practice and I took off my skates and then walked over to where Connie and Julie were waiting. We were driving over to my new house to meet my mom and then the four of us were going to go pick out dresses for the wedding. We were cutting it close but my Mom new the lady who owned the dress shop we were going to and she had insured my Mom that she could have the dresses done in time.  
I had been thrilled when my Mom had asked me to be her maid of honor. She had asked me the Saturday after Charlie and I had confronted her with the picture when we had gone out to lunch. I had been surprised. I mean we had been spending a lot of time together those first few days and we had seemed to hit it off but I hadn't been expecting that. I had figured she would go with someone she had known longer.  
Mom and Charlie had been great. They worked hard to make me feel like I was a part of the family. Even Coach Bombay had gone out of his way to make the house seem like my new home. I still missed my old life and the Mom and Dad I had grown up knowing but it was good to be a part of another family.  
"I guess we're ready then," Connie said as I joined her and Julie by the gate of the court.  
"Let's go," I told them and we started through the gate and toward the parking lot where my car was parked.  
"Hey Alex, can we talk for a minute," I heard a voice call behind me. I turned around to find Coach Bombay walking in our direction.  
"Do you guys mind waiting a couple of minutes?" I asked Connie and Julie. They both shook there head that they didn't. Julie reached out to take my bag and Connie took my hockey stick as I walked back toward the court to talk with Coach Bombay. 


	16. What's bugging Charlie

Alex's POV:  
As I followed Coach Bombay, I still couldn't bring myself to call him Gordon, I couldn't help but wonder what he wanted to talk to me about. It couldn't have to do with the team because Scott wasn't around. He lead me a little bit away from the court where no one was near enough to over hear. I saw a few people, Charlie and Guy (who were walking away from the court together) being two of them, cast a glance in our directions probably wondering what we were up to. I couldn't blame them. After all I was wondering the same thing myself.  
"So what did you want to talk about?" I asked Coach Bombay when he had stopped walking. He turned to face me but he didn't say anything right away. I was getting impatient. I wanted to know what was going on but I kept quiet. I waited for him to tell me what he had come to tell me.  
"Casey and I are meeting with Mrs. Martin again," Gordon said. I knew who Mrs. Martin was. I had meet her when the three of us had filled out the paperwork for my Mom to have custody of me again. I had no clue as to where this conversation was going. All of that had been taken care of last week. "We're working on the paperwork for my adoption of Charlie and if its okay I'd like to discuss with her and Casey about adopting you too."  
Those words were the last thing I had expected him to say. I wasn't even sure I had heard him right.  
"You want to adopt me?" I asked trying to determine if I was hearing things or not. I was just finding it hard to believe that he would want to adopt me. He had just met me. He really didn't know me.  
"Yes, I do," Coach Bombay said. "I mean if that's okay with you. I'd like for us to really feel like a family. You and Charlie are both Casey's kids and I'd like you both to be my kids too."  
I wasn't sure what to say. I hadn't been expecting this. I hadn't even thought about it. I was thrilled that I had found my mother and brother and now Coach Bombay was giving me a chance to have a father again too.  
"I'd like that," I finally said my voice barely more than a whisper. I watched as a smile spread across his face and then he held out his arms to me. I fell into them willingly. Even though I still missed my old family I was grateful for the wonderful knew family that I had fallen in with.  
  
Charlie's POV:  
The first practice had gone better than I thought it would. I didn't get into any arguments with Scooter, or any arguments with anyone for that mater. It wasn't so bad not being the captain of the team. In fact it was kind of fun just to be able to play the game. Of course this wasn't the Ducks. And I had yet to hear any jokes about coaches pet. Julie was getting that because she was dating Scooter. I had a feeling some of my teammates didn't even know that Alex and I were brother and sister yet and those who did knew better than to start with me.  
As practice came to an end though and we headed to the sidelines I knew there was something I needed to do. I had been avoiding doing it all day and it couldn't go on much longer or I would go completely crazy. I glanced over at Guy as I sat down to take my skates off. This conversation might just cost me a friend but it was a risk I had to take.  
"See you guys later," Julie called as she and Connie went to meet up with Alex so the three of them could meet my Mom back at the house.  
"Have fun," I told them.  
"Pick pink dresses," Averman called out. "I think Julie would look smashing in pink." Julie just stuck her tongue out at him. We all knew Julie hated pink. Come to think of it Connie didn't much care for the color either.  
I took a deep breath. The sooner I got this over with the better off things would be. At least then I would know exactly where I stood instead of living with all the speculations and possible scenarios I could come up with.  
"Guy, I need to talk to you about something," I said quietly so at least not everyone around us would overhear.  
"What about?" he asked, stuffing his skates in his bag.  
"I want to talk without an audience," I said as Russ and Averman were still nearby although they didn't seem to be paying attention to our conversation.  
"Then let's head back to the dorm,"Guy said. He stood up and started walking off the court. I got up and followed him. "I wonder what that is about?" Guy said suddenly. I followed his gaze and saw Bombay and Alex walking away from everyone.  
"Probably something about the team," I said. After all Bombay was the faculty advisor and beside I couldn't think of anything else the two of them could possibly be talking about.  
"Yeah, you're probably right," Guy said with a shrug. The two of us headed for the dorms. Guy attempted to make conversation about our classes, about the team but I just wasn't much of a conversationalist on our walk back. I knew he could tell that something was bothering me and he wanted to know what it was. Or at least he thought he wanted to know. When I finally told him what was bothering me he would probably wish that he had never found out.  
We reached the dorm building and headed upstairs to our room. I headed in first and put my hockey gear down on my bead and then walked over to the window. I stared out the window trying to figure out the best way to start this conversation. Behind me I could hear Guy shut and lock the door behind him and put his hockey gear down.  
"Okay, Charlie. What's bugging you?" he asked when I didn't immediately volunteer any information.  
  
Note: Okay I'm going to be evil and leave it there for right now because I want to go to bed. C-chan96 I'm glad you enjoyed the last chapter and the little bit between Connie and Charlie. There is more I promise. Banksiesbabe99 glad to hear you are still enjoying it. Cryptic Ragdoll thanks for your review. It was short but sweet. Jessica-camden, I"m glad to hear you like the story and I hope you continue to read it as I do plan on writing more. It's far from over. 


	17. Dress Shopping

Note: Okay everyone here's the update you've all been waiting for. Sorry it took so long. Cryptic Ragdoll and terry-mary-curtis- thanks for reviewing and letting me know you're enjoying the story. Banks99 - I'll forgive you for calling me an evil person (lol) and although I will admit most of the time I do cliff hangers on purpose the last one really was I was too tired to write anymore. Hope you like the ending of this chapter better. Banksiesbabe99 - Sorry you didn't like where I ended it. At least it kept you anticipating more and I know you'll read the next update (lol). Thanks for reviewing. Anne918 - I was starting to wonder what happen to you. Thanks for catching up and keep on guessing, your guesses sometimes get me thinking about things that I hadn't thought about before. Thanks. I'm glad you liked the part where Gordon walked in on the reunion and the conversation following. I wasn't too sure about that part when I wrote it. I'm glad to hear that it wasn't all that bad. Crazy4nc128 -glad your still enjoying the story and Happy New Year to you too. C-chan96 - Well here's your update. After the wonderful review I guess I'll forgive you for missing the update (lol). And you might think sleep is overrated but after working from 11pm to 7:30 am I like my sleep, sorry!. Hope everyone enjoys this chapter.  
  
Charlie's POV:  
I turned around to find Guy sitting on his bed. He looked at me expectantly waiting for an answer. I had already told him that I wanted to talk to him about something so I couldn't very easily back out now.  
"Guy, are you and Connie over for good?" I asked deciding that if I was going to do it I might as well get right to the point.  
"Yes we are. I'm enjoying the time I've been spending with Debbie and as you have probably noticed Connie seems to be dating a different guy every night," Guy said. I tried to judge the emotion behind the words but as far as I could tell it really wasn't bothering him that Connie was dating other guys.  
"So you wouldn't care if someone else dated Connie even if that someone else was a friend?" I ventured.  
"No, why should I?" Guy said with a shrug. Then he must have got to thinking about the question. "Wait a second, are you trying to ask me if I'm okay with you dating Connie?" he asked me after a slight pause.  
"Yes," I told him simply. "I've had a crush on her for the past few years," I admitted to him, "but I never would have tried to steal her from you. I have too much respect for you and her to have done that," I added quickly hoping he wouldn't get bad at me.  
"You don't need to ask my permission to go out with Connie," Guy said with a laugh. "If you want to date her go for it."  
"You're sure?" I asked him. "I don't want to cause any problems between any of us." I told him.  
"I'm positive. I told you, I'm enjoying spending time with Debbie. Connie and I weren't meant to be. Hopefully, we can still be friends but I don't want to go back out with her," Guy told me. "Besides, I'd rather have her dating you than some of the guys she has gone out with lately. I'm not sure where she is finding some of these guys. At least I know you'll treat her right. Was that last guy even human?" he asked me. I had to laugh. I had said the same thing to Connie about that guy the night before.  
"You know I'm not sure," I told him. "I asked Connie the same thing last night and got a book thrown at me for my troubles."  
I was just glad that he was cool with all of this and I hoped it would last. I hope that if Connie and I did start dating that he would still be cool with it. The next step was to talk to Connie about what had taken place last night. Did she feel the same way about me as I did about her?  
  
Connie's POV:  
"We could make Averman happy and pick this dress," I heard Julie say and I glanced over to see her holding up a very frilly, light pink dress. It would've looked good - if we wanted to be fairy princesses. It was a good thing I knew she was joking because if not I would've thought that she had completely lost all good taste.  
"What do you want us to look like - cotton candy," Alex said from her spot at another dress rack. We had already spent and hour looking at dresses and we had yet to find one that all three of us could agree on. Okay, we couldn't find a dress that Julie and I could agree on. The cotton candy remark was the first comment of dislike for a dress that I had heard from Alex all afternoon. I don't know about the other two but I was starting to get frustrated. Still there was no way in the world you would ever see me in that pink dress that Julie was holding up.  
I shook my head and turned back to the dresses in front of me. There had to be something we could all agree in. It seemed like pink and pastel colors were in though and I personally didn't care for them and I had known Julie long enough to know that they weren't exactly her colors either.  
"Ohh, how about this one," I heard Julie cry out. I almost expected to turn around and see her holding up another pink dress. A sarcastic comment was even coming to mind but as I turned around I realized that she was serious this time. Julie was grinning as she stood holding up the dress in front of her. It was a long sleeved dress that was a deep jade. The only frill on the dress was a silver bow on the left hip. I thought it looked beautiful.  
"I love it," I said walking over to Julie to get a better look at the dress. "What do you think Alex."  
"It's fine with me, if the two of you both like it," she said. I couldn't help but wonder how she couldn't be in love with the dress. I looked at her questionly. "Really, if the two of you like the dress I'm cool with it," she told me. "I'm just not a big fan of dresses period."  
"Connie, Julie do both of you like that dress?" Mrs. Conway asked us, stepping in. I think she was as tired of being here as we were and just wanted the selection process over with. I took another look at the dress Julie was holding and nodded my head. Julie was doing likewise. The two of us finally liked the same dress.  
Mrs. Conway's friend then started taking our measurements so that she could get the dresses made up. That took another half-hour. By that time I was starving. I couldn't wait to get back to Eden Hall so we could have dinner.  
"Do you girls want to go out for pizza for dinner?" Mrs. Conway asked as she said good-bye to her friend and walked over to of.  
"Yeah sure," all three of said quickly.  
The four of us walked over to the nearby pizza parlor for dinner. After ordering Mrs. Conway and Julie disappeared into the bathroom leaving me alone at the table with Alex. I still wasn't comfortable being around Alex. I couldn't get past the fact that she use to be a Hawk although all of the others had seemed to. I didn't like the idea of the two of us being alone even for a few minutes together. What if I said something I shouldn't? Not only was Alex dating Adam but she was Charlie's sister and Mrs. Conway's daughter. I didn't want any of them mad at me just because Alex and I couldn't get along.  
I looked down at the table and started fiddling around with my napkin. I figured the safest thing for me to do was to simply not say anything. Alex wasn't going to let me do that though.  
"Is it something I said or did?" she asked me out of the blue.  
"What?" I said, looking up at her, not quite sure what she was getting at.  
"I just get the feeling that you don't like me," Alex told me. "So I was wondering have I said or did something to upset you. Are you upset that you didn't make the roller hockey team?"  
"No, its not that," I said quickly. I had been upset about that at first but I finally realized that it hadn't been anything personal against me. Scooter and Alex couldn't have everyone on the team and I hadn't been good enough to make the team. I knew I wasn't the best hockey player and everyone on the team had deserved to make the team. I was okay with being an alternate now.  
"Then what is it?" she asked me. "Look I don't expect us to be best friends but we have friends in common now. It would be nice if we could both hang out with them without things being awkward." I had to admit that she had a point.  
"I guess I just don't feel comfortable around you," I said quietly. I had almost said that I didn't trust her but I caught myself just in time.  
"Because I use to be a Hawk?" Alex asked me. I nodded. "Connie that was a long time ago. Things are different now. I know it was awful the way my old teammates use to treat you guys and maybe I should've done something to stop it but can you honestly say that you remember me ever being in on any of the stuff they did." She paused probably waiting to see if I would say anything. I didn't because again she had a valid point. "All I'm asking for is a chance. Take the time to get to know me before you judge me."  
I thought about her words. What she was asking wasn't unreasonable. "Okay," I finally said. "Hi, I'm Connie Morreau nice to meet you," I said smiling and holding out my hand to her.  
"Hi Connie, I'm Alex Conway," Alex replied with a smile taking my hand. "So what's going on between you and Charlie?" Alex asked as the waitress sat all of our drinks down on the table.  
"What do you mean?" I asked. Had somebody seen the kiss he gave me and if they had who was it and how did Alex find out. On the other hand maybe Charlie had been telling people he had kissed me. If he had I was going to kill him.  
"Well it just seemed like there was something going on between the two of you Sunday night when the four of were out. Like maybe you like him as more than just a friend."  
"Is it that obvious?" I asked realizing that she didn't know anything about the kiss and no one had told her anything.  
"Not really," Alex told me. "I just happen to know a little bit about that look, I mean look how long it took Adam and I to get together."  
I let out a sigh of relief. I still wasn't completely sure how I felt about Charlie but I definitely didn't want people talking about us being a couple. At least not before we figured things out ourselves.  
"If I tell you something will you promise not to say anything to anyone - not even Adam?" I asked her.  
"Of course," Alex said taking a sip of her soda.  
"After dinner on Sunday when Charlie and I were walking back to the dorms, Charlie kissed me."  
"What!" she said surprised. "I can't believe he actually kissed you. What happened after he kissed you?"  
" I made the excuse I had homework to do and disappeared inside."  
"Do you like Charlie?" Alex asked me.  
"Yeah, I guess I do," I admitted after thinking about it for a moment. "But he's friends with Guy and I don't want to cause problems between them."  
"Don't take this wrong but I think Guy is over you. He seems pretty happy with Debbie."  
"I know. And I'm happy for him. We always seemed to fighting lately anyways but still it might be awkward if Charlie and I start dating."  
"If you like Charlie than I think you should go for. I mean he must like you - he kissed you."  
"He's a good kisser too," I said with a smile.  
"Okay, that's more information than I needed to know," she told me with a laugh.  
"Okay did I miss something," Julie said returning to the table. She took her seat next to me and looked from me to Alex waiting for one of us to say something.  
"Not really," I told her. For some reason I wasn't ready to tell Julie about Charlie kissing me. At least not right now. I wanted to get thing straightened out for myself first.  
Mrs. Conway came back shortly after Julie and the pizza came not to long after that. The four of us talked about wedding plans while we ate our pizza. Most of us Ducks had been waiting for Mrs. Conway and Coach Bombay to get together for years. It was kind of exciting that it was finally happening.  
After dinner we drove back to the Conway's and then Alex drove the three of us back to Eden Hall. I wanted to get back not because I wasn't enjoying my afternoon out with the girls but I wanted to find Charlie. It was time we discussed what had happened Sunday night and stopped avoiding each other. 


	18. Charlie and Connie

Note. Thank-you to Banksiesbabe99, crazy4nc128 and C-chan96 for being my three reviewers for chapter 17. You three are great. I'm glad you all like Connie/Charlie (I was afraid people would want to burn me in effigy or something for breaking up Connie/Guy.) Anne918- I know you didn't review the last chapter yet but I'm sure you will eventually, anyway I'd just like to say thank-you for inspiring one little twist this story is going to take in this chapter. I'm sure you'll realize what it is when you read this chapter.  
  
Connie's POV:  
After saying good-bye to Alex, Julie and I headed for our dorm building. Julie was still talking about the dress and what Scooter would think of her in it. To tell you the truth I wasn't really paying attention. I was lost in my own thoughts and I was just hoping that Julie wouldn't catch on. I didn't feel like trying to explain anything to her right now.  
"Charlie where are you going?" I heard Adam call out as soon as we walked through the front door. It sounded as it he was in the common room.  
"Upstairs. I got homework to do," Charlie called back as we heard his footsteps on the stairs. Julie had stopped talking and the both of us were standing just inside the front door. We saw Adam come out of the common room and stand in the hallway looking up the steps.  
"Charlie will you quit avoiding me," Adam called up the steps.  
"I'm not avoiding you," Charlie called back down the stairs. "Like I said I have homework to do. Why don't you go find Shane or Alex I'm sure they would be happy to spend time with you. You seem to enjoy their company more anyways."  
"What is that suppose to mean?" Adam asked.  
"Figure it out," we heard Charlie say and then heard his footsteps go up the rest of the stairs.  
Adam through his arms up in the air and disappeared back into the common room not even noticing me and Julie.  
"What was that about?" Julie whispered to me as we made our way down the hallway toward our room.  
"I haven't a clue," I whispered back to her. "I need to go get notes off of someone," I told Julie as we reached the steps.  
"Okay," Julie said with a shrug and continued on to our room. I headed upstairs to where all of the guy's rooms were. I wanted to talk to Charlie. It wasn't probably the best time to do it but if I put it off I might not do it at all. Besides if I didn't talk to him tonight I knew I wouldn't be able to sleep tonight.  
  
Charlie's POV:  
"Figure it out," I told Adam looking down at him from my spot halfway up the stairs. I hated him right now. He had spent most of the last couple of weeks with either Alex or Shane. It was like everything I had done for him over the last couple of months didn't matter anymore. He had his girlfriend and his old best friend back so he didn't need me. Well then fine, I didn't need him either. I wasn't going to be there for him only when he couldn't find Alex or Shane to hang out with.  
I opened the door to my dorm room and was glad to see that Guy wasn't there. I wanted to be by myself for a little while. I should've never went down to the common room to begin with. I had only even gone down there so that I would know when Connie came back.  
I laid down on my bed and stared up at the ceiling. I had lied to Adam about having homework to do. I had already finished the little homework that I did had. As I stared at the ceiling I was trying to figure out what had gone wrong. I should be happy. My mom and Coach Bombay were getting married in about two weeks. It what I had dreamed of for four years. I had found out that I had an older sister and she was going to be a part of my new family. A new family that Adam would also be a part of so not only would I have a sister I would also in a way have a brother (although right now I didn't like my new brother too much). I was on the roller hockey team and getting along with Scooter pretty well. Things were going fine but something inside me just couldn't be happy about everything that was going on. All I could focus on was the fact that Adam, who was suppose to be my best friend, had more or less written me off and my sister was not only monopolizing my so called best friend's time but also my mothers' (our mothers') time. And then there was Connie.  
'Life is so unfair' I thought. I heard a knock on my door. I let out a sigh. The guy was just to nice for his own good.  
"Go away Adam," I called out. He was the last person I wanted to talk to right about now.  
"It's not Adam," I heard Connie call through the door. I quickly got up and sprinted across the room to the door and opened it quickly.  
"Hi Connie," I said as I opened the door.  
"We need to talk about what happened last night," she told me looking serious.  
"Ah, yeah we do," I said stepping off to the side. "Come on in," I told her.  
Connie walked into the room and went over to my desk and sat down in the chair. I shut the door and then turned around to face her. I looked at her trying to figure out what she was feeling. How did she feel about what had happened last night? Was she pissed off at me or did she feel the same way?  
"What's going on with you and Adam?" she asked me. I looked at her questionly. How did she even know about that. "Julie and I walked into the dorm building at the end of that conversation," she told me in a way of an explanation.  
"To tell you the truth I'm not sure myself," I told her with a shrug not wanting to get into that subject right now. "You said you wanted to talk about last night," I said lightly trying to get this conversation back onto the two of us and off of me and Adam and our seemingly deteriorating friendship.  
"Yeah," she said getting the hint that I didn't want to discuss Adam at all. There was an awkward silence between the two of us for a little while. I knew what I wanted to discuss with her but I didn't know how to bring it up. Evidently she wasn't exactly sure how to bring the subject up either.  
"Why did you kiss me last night Charlie?" Connie finally asked breaking the silence and looking up at me. "Was it some kind of mistake or did you really want to kiss me?"  
"Connie, it wasn't a mistake," I told her quickly sitting down on my bed so I could be at the same level as she was. "Yes it was a spur of a moment thing but I wanted to do it. Truth is I've been wanting to do it for years but I had too much respect for both you and Guy to do something like that while the two of you were going out."  
"So you really do like me?"  
"Yes, I have for the last couple of years but you and Guy have always seemed happy so I tried to ignore how I felt about you."  
"And now?"  
"I like you Connie. Even though I've tried not to admit it even to myself I do. I've hated seeing you go out with all these different guys lately and not just because I'm your friend and I know they aren't good enough for you but because I want to be the guy you're going out with." I told her.  
It felt good to finally get all this out. I knew I was taking a risk. I was risking a great friendship if she didn't feel the same way about me but I was willing to take the chance. I wanted to know if I had a any chance at all with her, the girl of my dreams.  
"Is there any chance you'll ever feel the same way about me?" I asked her quietly meeting her eyes for the first time since she had walked through the door just minutes ago. I searched them for an answer. For the answer that I wanted to hear.  
Connie didn't say anything. Those few seconds seemed like forever to me. If she was going to break my heart I wished she would just get it over with. Tell me I didn't stand a chance. That didn't happen though. Instead she leaned over and kissed me. It was a quick kiss but I had gotten my answer.  
I reached out and took her face in my hands and gave her another kiss. One that she didn't pull away from. At least not until we heard the door open.  
  
Note: Okay I know I'm doing it again and this time it is on purpose. I'm sorry I like suspense. I'll try not to let you guys hang to long though. 


	19. Awkward moment

Anne918: thanks for rewriting your lost review for chapter 17 (I don't think it's the only lost review as my one of my other stories had 24 reviews and I read them now two are missing). Anyway I'm glad you love the story and what I'm doing with the characters relationship.  
  
C-chan96: Your review made me laugh. Very entertaining. I hope you like this chapter just as much.  
  
Banksiesbabe99: Well you'll get to find out who was walking in on them just not at the begining of the chapter. Glad you're still enjoying the story.  
  
Rachel: Can't say I blame you for getting bored. I thought the story was dragging a bit too which is why I skipped a few weeks in between chapters at one point. I'm so glad you gave the story another chance and that you're enjoying it again.  
  
Crazy4nc128: You can stop guessing now! I'll let you know who is walking in the door just read this chapter. Glad you are enjoying the story.  
  
Note: If I'm missing someone sorry. One thing says I should have 77 reviews but only 75 are showing up. I also think I read one that was emailed to me as a review alert that isn't showing on the review page but I can't remember who wrote it. Thanks to everyone who is reviewing I really like to read reviews. Enjoy the story.  
  
Adam's POV:  
Figure it out. If I could do that I would've never asked the question, I thought miserably as I went back into the common room and sat down in an easy chair in the corner. I would've rather gone up to my room but to do that I would've had to follow Charlie upstairs and I knew that if I went upstairs right now I would be knocking on his door. Hell that was probably what he expected me to do, run after him and start apologizing for something. I wasn't even sure what he expected me to apologize for.  
All I had done was ask him if he wanted to hang out the next afternoon after he was done with hockey practice. His reaction had been to say, "yeah right" and started walking out of the room. I had followed him but we hadn't had much of a conversation. All I could think of was that my fears I had talk to Jesse about a few weeks ago were true. Charlie had his sister, the sibling he had always wanted, he didn't need me. He didn't want me around, he had just proven that. I didn't know what to do.  
If Charlie was going to act like this then living in the same house as him was going to be impossible. I started contemplating asking my grandparents to take me in for the summer again. I mean I had a place here at Eden Hall during the school year. I'm sure they would let me stay with them and then Charlie wouldn't have to share his family with me and maybe he would stop hating me again.  
"I didn't steal her from you," I heard Jesse's voice come in from the hallway out side. "The two of you were never going out nor would you ever have been even if Alisha and I hadn't gotten together."  
"What are you saying, that no girl in her right mind would go out with me," I heard Russ tell him as the two came around the corner and into the common room. They didn't even notice me sitting in the corner.  
"I never said that," Jesse told him. "Its just that Alisha is not your type Russ."  
"And that means what?" Russ asked him his voice only slightly lower than it had been moments earlier.  
"You need someone who shares your sense of humor Russ. Alisha isn't like that. I'm not even sure she likes comedy."  
"Nice try," Russ told him. "You knew I liked her. That's why you went after her. You just wanted to try to be better than me because we all know I'm better at hockey than you are."  
"Yeah, you wish," Jesse said giving up trying to be diplomatic. "You're just a sore loser and not just over girls either."  
"I hope she dumps you," Russ told him and then stormed out of the room.  
With a sigh of frustration Jess turned around. He picked up a throw pillow off the couch and threw it. Unfortunately it was in my direction.  
"Hey watch it," I told him putting my arm up to deflect the incoming pillow. I saw Jesse jump at the sound of my voice. He obviously wasn't expecting me.  
"What are you doing over there?" Jesse asked. I guess the fact that he just threw a pillow at me didn't much matter to him.  
"Feeling sorry for myself," I told him tossing the pillow back at him. Jesse caught the pillow and put it back down on the couch. He pulled one of the chairs from the one table at the side of the room and pulled it closer to where I was sitting.  
"What's going on?" he asked me sitting down in the chair. I looked at my friend. Part of me wanted to just tell him to get loss. That I didn't want to talk about it but I didn't. I knew Jesse. He wouldn't let it go and unfortunately he was my roommate so it wasn't like I could go lock myself in my room and get away from him. He had a key to the room. So I told him about the very short conversation I had just had with Charlie.  
"I told you he wouldn't want me around now," I told Jesse referring to the conversation we had a few weeks ago- right after Charlie and Alex had found out they were brother and sister.  
"I don't think that's the problem, Adam," Jesse told me but didn't say anything else.  
"Oh, don't you start with me too. I have no clue as to what Charlie was getting at I don't even want to try and figure out what you're saying," I told him.  
"Adam just think about it for a second," Jesse started. If looks could kill there would've been one less Duck at Eden Hall. "Okay, bad choice of words," he said quickly. "Adam I think that it isn't that Charlie doesn't want you around but that he feels as if you've already pushed him away so he's doing the same. You have been spending a lot of time with Larson and Alex lately."  
"Then why did he just push me away when I suggested we spend time together?" I asked him not really buying what Jesse was saying.  
"Don't give up on him Adam. You two are too good of friends to let this blow up into something major."  
"I think its too late already," I told him as I got up and slowly headed out of the common room. I definitely had no intentions of trying to be a friend to Charlie anymore until I got an apology for blowing me off. I was sick of people just taking me for granted. I had been spending time with Larson and Alex because everyone else had been busy with other stuff, things I couldn't participate in because I was still getting over the mono. Most of the time I had been spending with Shane had been during roller hockey practice and half the time Alex and I weren't alone. Someone, and quite a few times it had been Charlie, had been tagging along with us. What right did Charlie have to decide when, who, and how much time I could spend with my other friends.  
"Adam, where are you going?" Jesse asked.  
"For a walk," I told him. "I need some time to myself." With that said I left the common room, walked down the hallway and out the front door. I don't know how long I ended up walking in circles around campus but when I got back I could hear familiar voices in the common room. I could tell most of the Ducks had gotten together.  
On my way by, I glanced in. The Ducks were gathered around the tv but from the looks of it the tv had been forgotten. I noticed Charlie and Connie cuddled up close together on the couch. I guess we had a new couple among the ducks. Now maybe Charlie would understand why I had been spending time with Alex lately.  
I almost went in and joined them but instead I headed upstairs to my room and got ready for bed. I wasn't really tired but I also didn't want to have another conversation with Jesse tonight. If I was already asleep when he came up to the room than he would leave me alone.  
  
Guy's POV:  
Debbie and I went out for a walk after we ate dinner in the school cafeteria with most of my friends. It was the first time she had eaten with us and I was glad that Connie hadn't shown up. Julie and Alex weren't there either so we all just figured that they were still out with Mrs. Conway. How girls could spend that much time looking at dresses I will never figure out.  
Debbie and my friends seemed to get along pretty well. Even though she wasn't at all athletic herself she knew a little bit about sports which was nice. She already knew Ken from the school play. Debbie was working on the sound and light crew. More than likely she already knew Connie but I still wasn't sure if I wanted the two of them around each other.  
After our walk I walked Debbie back to her dorm building and then headed back to my own. As I walked in Russ was on his way out. He didn't look at all happy.  
"What's wrong Russ?" I asked him as he went by me.  
"Ask Jesse," Russ told me vehemently. As soon as he said that I had a feeling I knew what it was. I knew Russ was not at all happy about Jesse and Alisha going out. It just proved to me that I was better off keeping Debbie away from Connie.  
As the front door slammed behind him I started down the hallway toward the stairs. I heard voices coming from the common room. It sounded like Adam and Jesse and the two of them seemed to be having a serious conversation so I didn't say hello to them. I walked by the common room and headed up the steps to the room I shared with Charlie.  
When I opened the door to our room I saw the last thing that I expected. Charlie and Connie were kissing. For just a fleeting second I wanted to rush over and punch Charlie for kissing my girl but the thing was, Connie wasn't my girl anymore. Just a few hours early I had told Charlie that I wouldn't care if he went out with Connie. After all I was happy with Debbie, why shouldn't Connie be happy. I guess I just hadn't expected it to happen so soon.  
At the sound of the door opening. Charlie and Connie had both looked up in my direction. When Charlie saw who it was he quickly jumped to his feet. His mouth started moving but no words came out. As long as I had known Charlie, this was the first time that I had ever seen him speechless. Connie just stayed sitting in the desk chair looking down at the floor. This was definitely the most awkward situation I had ever been in. Somebody had to do something to break the tension and it looked as if that someone was going to have to be me.  
"Hi guys, sorry to interrupt," I said trying to put a smile on over my shocked expression, like the two of them kissing was exactly what I had expected when I opened the door to my dorm room.  
"Ah, this wasn't exactly how we wanted you to find out about us, Guy," Connie said awkwardly.  
"It's not a problem," I said walking over to my desk and picking up the book we were reading in English class. "I had a feeling something was going on between the two of you," I said casting a glance over at Charlie to let him know that I wasn't going to say anything about our earlier conversation. We both knew Connie wouldn't take it well if she found out that Charlie had already more or less asked my permission to date her.  
"So you're cool with this?" Charlie asked playing along with my little charade.  
"Yeah," I told them, as I sat down on the edge of my bed with the book, although part of me really wasn't. Part of me missed Connie despite all of the arguments we had been having lately. We were probably better off apart though. "Besides, at least now I won't have to watch Connie go out with all sort of alien life forms," I commented with a smile getting in a jab at some of the guys that Connie had been going out lately with.  
Connie picked up Charlie's pillow and threw it at me. The pillow hit me right in the face but when I saw Connie's face afterward she was smiling. It was a purely genuine smile, that I hadn't seen on her face in a long time. I knew then that letting her go was exactly the right thing to do. I wanted what was best for her and right now letting her go, and just being her friend was the best thing for her. Maybe it was the best thing for both of us, for all three of us.  
"So did either of you even understand this chapter we were suppose to read tonight?" I asked holding up the book and changing the subject. The three of us ended up talking about our English assignment for awhile. It was going to be awkward for a little while but I think the three of us were still going to be able to keep our friendship which I think we were all happy about. 


	20. More problems

Note: Hi all. Here's another update. Sorry for the wait but I've been lacking inspiration with this story. I think I'm getting overwhelmed but that's my problem not yours.  
  
Crazy4nc128- I'm glad you enjoy it. It is complicated but then so is life. Thanks for reviewing.  
  
C-chan96- Well, seeing as you've been reading my other story I have been updating I guess I don't need to explain things to you too much. I'm glad you like the fact that I put Charlie and Connie together. There is more of them in this chapter so I hope you enjoy it. Thanks for reading.  
  
Banksiesbabe99 - here's the update you've been waiting for. Unfortunately Adam and Charlie don't make up yet in fact Charlie's busy making more problems but you'll have to read to find out about that.  
  
Anne918- I'm glad you liked how I wrote the last chapter. I thought the Jesse/Adam conversation may have been a little too corny but I'm glad to hear you didn't think so. The intertwining subplots are starting to overwhelm me I think but I'm not abandoning the story no matter how long it takes me to write. Hope you like this chapter.  
  
Jess- I'm glad you finally found the story (and then I go and take forever to update it -sorry). I'm glad to hear you like it. I don' plan on taking this story much past the Mrs. Conway's and Bombay's wedding but who knows what I might do with Adam if I make another sequel to this story. Thanks for the review and I hope you like the update.  
  
Alex's POV:  
"Okay everyone," I told my team as Scooter blew his whistle. "That's it for today. Don't forget that our first game is Monday."  
The players scattered after that. I think we were ready. Scooter and I had checked out the team that we were to play on Monday. I had to admit, they were pretty good but I still think we had a chance. At the very least, it should be a close game.  
"Hey Charlie, did you want to catch a movie or something tonight?" I asked him as we skated to the side of the court to take our skates off.  
"Are you sure you have the time," he replied sarcastically taking me by surprise. I wasn't even sure where the attitude was coming from. I had thought my brother and I were getting along well. Evidently I had ben wrong.  
"What's bothering you?" I asked him not really answering his question. I had a feeling he really didn't want an answer to the question he had just asked.  
"Nothing," he said shrugging his shoulders. "Why should anything be bothering me? It just seems like everybody had been ignoring me lately and now that you guys have gotten bored with each other's company you expect me to drop everything and spend some time with you. Well forget it. I'm not playing that game," Charlie said picking up his bag.  
"What are you talking about?" I asked not completely following Charlie's little tirade.  
"Just forget it," Charlie said turning away and heading for the gate to the court. I saw Connie, who had come to today's practice, hurry after him.  
I just shook my head and sat down next to my bag. I knew that pursuing this conversation right now wasn't probably the greatest idea as we would both probably end up saying things we would regret later.  
"Got any plans for dinner?" Scott asked me as I was putting my skates into my bag.  
"Not really," I told him zipping my bag and standing up.  
"Well, Riley asked me to join him and his parents for dinner. Julie doesn't want anything to do with Riley and I really am not in the mood to deal with him alone so you want to come along?" Scooter asked.  
"Not the most flattering dinner invitation I've ever had Scott," I told him with a smile.  
"Sorry, this is one invitation I don't know how to make sound flattering. I mean come on, dinner with Riley and his parents. He's my best friend and I still don't really want to go."  
"You got a point there," I told him with a laugh. "Okay, I'll go but just because I'm your friend."  
"Great," Scott said with a smile. "Just do me a favor. No punching Riley in front of his parents. If you get the urge to hit him, wait until we get back to campus," he told me referring to the time that I had slugged Riley during one of the varsity practices the year before. That had been the incident that had almost gotten me kicked off the team by Coach Wilson until Scott had intervened on my behalf.  
"I'll try," I told him.  
"I guess that will have to be good enough," Scott said as we left the court and headed toward the dorms. It wasn't exactly how I had been planning on spending my Friday night but at least I had something to do.  
"What's going on between you and Charlie?" Scott asked me as we walked.  
"I'm not sure. All I did was ask him he wanted to do something tonight and he went off on me."  
"Maybe he's just having a bad day," Scott told me trying to console me.  
"I don't think its that," I told him. "I just hope what ever it is it gets resolved before next weekend so that it doesn't ruin the wedding."  
"Well, you have a whole week," Scott said encouragingly. "That should be enough time to fix any problem."  
"I hope so," I said not convinced at all.  
  
Connie's POV:  
I was shocked by Charlie's outburst at Alex as much as Alex seemed to be taking by surprise by it. I hadn't seen that coming. It was Charlie who had given Alex the benefit of the doubt at first and become her friend even before they found out that they were brother and sister. Now Charlie seemed to be mad at Alex and Adam too for that matter. All of the Ducks had noticed that during the course of the day. Charlie and Adam hadn't said two words too each other. In fact, Adam hadn't even eaten lunch with us. As far as I could tell, Adam hadn't even shown up in the cafeteria at lunch time.  
"Charlie wait up," I called as I hurried after him lugging my hockey gear. The gear made it awkward to run and I had to do that if I had any chance of catching up to Charlie who still had his skates on.  
At first I didn't think he was going to stop at all but then Charlie put on the breaks and leaned up against a nearby tree. I kept on jogging just in case Charlie changed his mind and decided not to wait for me.  
"Charlie what's wrong?" I asked him coming to a stop and trying to catch my breath.  
"Who said anything is wrong?" he said answering my question with a question and trying to deny what was as plan to day for me. I just looked at him with a look that clearly said I wasn't falling for it. "Oh alright," he finally said with a sigh. "I guess I'm just sick of feeling like I'm being used," Charlie told me sitting down on the ground beside the tree.  
"Who do you think is using you?" I asked sitting down next to him. I was still completely lost. I had no idea what he was talking about.  
"Adam and Alex and who knows who else," Charlie said.  
"You're making absolutely no sense at all," I told him simply. "Besides, I thought you and Adam had worked your differences out over Christmas vacation and he's your best friend. And you and Alex seemed to hit it off from the beginning. I mean she's the one who gave you a chance at making the roller hockey team or have you forgotten that Scooter wanted to cut you on day one."  
Charlie didn't say anything right away. He looked kind of thoughtful and I didn't want to spoil the mood so I sat there quietly waiting for him to say something.  
"Well, some best friend Adam turned out to be. As soon as he made up with Shane and Alex he completely dumped me," Charlie told me. "And Alex has been completely monopolizing my mother."  
"I think, you're just feeling jealous," I told him. Part of me was waiting for him to go off and leave. Instead he just looked over at me.  
"I'm not jealous," he told me.  
"If you say so," I said not really wanting to get into an argument with him.  
"I'm not," Charlie said again although this time he sounded more like he was trying to convince himself as much as he was trying to convince me of the fact. I didn't say anything. We had just gotten together and I didn't want to mess that up. All the arguments I had gotten into with Guy over the years had done nothing to help our relationship. I wasn't about to begin my relationship with Charlie with an argument over this.  
"How about we go out to eat and then catch a movie," I suggested instead hoping to get his mind off the current situation. I knew that right now what Charlie needed most was time and space to figure out exactly what it was he was feeling. I had gotten him thinking and that was probably the most help I could give him at this point.  
"Sure," Charlie said as he started unlacing his skates and switching his sneakers. He put his skates away and then stood up and held a hand out to me. I took his hand and let him help me up. The two of us headed back toward the dorms.  
"I'll meet you back down here in a little bit," I told him as we reached the steps. I wanted to take a quick shower and change clothes before we went out tonight.  
"Okay," Charlie told me and then headed up the stairs. He already seemed to be in a better mood.  
I headed down the hallway to my room. Julie wasn't in the room when I walked in. I dropped my bag on the floor near the wall and tossed the stick on the bed. I quickly grabbed a outfit out of my closet and headed for the bathroom to shower and change.  
When I came out of the bathroom, Julie was lying on her bed reading the book we were reading for English class.  
"Where are you going?" Julie asked looking up from her book as I came into the room.  
"Dinner and a movie with Charlie," I told her. I could feel my face growing hot and hoped Julie didn't notice.  
"Have fun," she said cheerfully going back to her book.  
"You and Scooter have any plans?" I asked as I grabbed my brush and brushed out my hair.  
"No, not tonight. He's going to dinner with Riley and his parents."  
"And he didn't ask you to go with him?"  
"Oh he asked," Julie told me. "I refused. Sorry but I would rather spend my Friday night with a good book rather than Riley no matter who else is with me," Julie said. "I think he convinced Alex to go with him."  
"And you're okay with that?"  
"Yeah why shouldn't I be," Julie answered easily. "He and Alex are just friends. I mean besides you, all my friends here are guys and Scooter doesn't get upset when I spend time with them. Besides, Adam asked me to join him, Shane, Guy and Jesse for dinner at the pizza place tonight. Shane's picking us up at six thirty."  
"Well, have fun with the guys," I told her with a smile.  
"You too," I told her grabbing my purse and heading out the door. Charlie was already waiting for me as I walked down the hallway toward the steps. He took my hand as I got closer and the two of us headed out of the dorm toward the bus stop.  
  
Adam's POV:  
"Come on Adam," I heard Jesse yell banging on the bathroom door. "We're going to be late and the only girl that's going to be there is Julie."  
I smiled as I finished fixing my hair. Just because he didn't have any hair to worry about doesn't mean he has to get on my case. I took one last look in the mirror and opened the bathroom door.  
"I'm done. Are you happy now?" I told him coming out of the bathroom.  
"Whoever said girls take a long time to get ready never had you for a roommate," Jesse told me. I picked up my pillow and threw it at him.  
"Okay, I deserved that," Jesse said with a laugh.  
"Are you two coming?" Guy asked opening the door and sticking his head inside.  
"Yeah, we're coming," I told him picking my pillow back up off the floor and tossing it on my bed.  
"It's not in the right place," Jesse told me as we walked out into the hallway.  
"Yeah, but his hair is perfect so it doesn't matter," Guy commented.  
"What is this going to be - pick on Adam night," I said as we headed down the steps. Jesse and Guy just laughed.  
"About time you guys showed up," Julie said from her spot against the wall at the bottom of the steps. "Seems like I've been waiting forever."  
"Don't say a thing," I said before either Jesse or Guy could open their mouths.  
"Did I miss something?" Julie asked as the four of us headed out of the dorm.  
"Yes, but please don't ask what it is," I told her. Shane was already waiting outside along the curb . I got into the front seat as the other three piled into the backseat.  
The ride into town was kind of quiet. My friends hadn't really spent much time with Shane yet and I'm not sure they knew what to say and I knew that Shane was nervous about tonight. It had taken me forever to convince him to even do this.  
The five of us walked into the pizza parlor and found a table in the back away from most of the other people in the pizza place. After we had made our order there was silence around the table again. I wanted to say something to start the conversation seeing as I was friends with everyone here but not being good at conversations period I wasn't sure what to say. Thankfully, Shane finally broke the silence.  
"So, the first roller hockey game of the season is Monday, are you two ready?" he asked Guy and Julie.  
"Yeah I think so," Julie said.  
"It's going to be a close game though," Guy said.  
"I talked the coach into letting me skip practice to come to the game this one time," Jesse said. "So I'll be there to cheer you on."  
"Great, the more people cheering the better," Julie told him. "Are you coming Shane?" Julie asked.  
"Yeah, I'll be there. Alex might strangle me if I don't show up," he said.  
"After today's practice, Alex might be strangling someone else," Guy commented. "I don't know what's going on between the two of them but Charlie and Alex didn't exactly seem to be getting along that well after practice this afternoon."  
"Charlie's not exactly being the friendliest person here lately period," I commented without even thinking it. As soon as I said it I realized I was going to have to explain things to Julie, Guy and Shane.  
Luckily the waitress showed up with our order at that point. I was hoping my comment would be forgotten but I wasn't that lucky.  
"What's going on between the two of you anyway?" Julie asked as soon as the waitress had left, proving me right.  
With a sigh, I told them about what had happened between me and Charlie the night before. In fact, we ended up discussing Charlie's weird behavior for awhile. Unfortunately none of us was able to come up with an idea on how to fix things but in the end I have to admit it felt good to talk about it with my friends. 


	21. A car ride

Note: Okay, here's a short chapter. Sorry I'm still lacking inspiration to work on this story but I am trying.  
  
Crazy4nc128 - yeah Charlie isn't being the best listener right now but then again if he was I'd lose part of my plot. Sorry about the slow updates.  
  
Jess- yeah, Charlie isn't very grateful. He's lucky Adam's such a forgiving person lol. Sorry about the short chapter but I felt I should at least post something.  
  
Banksiesbabe99 - I totally agree with you that both Charlie and Adam are to blame for their problems right now. Glad you're reading and enjoying the story.  
  
Rachel - well it wasn't quick but more did come and there is more to follow, I just got to actually sit down and get it out of my head and onto the computer, lol. Couples therapy might not be a bad idea for them.  
  
Anne918- Thanks for your kind words. As I haven't been updating this story all that quickly I'll forgive your delay in reviewing the last chapter. Just don't let it happen again, lol. Let's just say the tension isn't getting resolved in this chapter.  
  
C-chan96- well as you've been reviewing my Dawson fic story you know what I've been doing lately. Its slow going but this story is still going somewhere. Glad you enjoyed the last chapter. Sorry for the lack of Charlie/Connie in this chapter (okay the lack of Charlie period) but please don't let that stop you from reading. Later.  
  
Alex's POV:  
The game was an away game. Coach Bombay had arranged for a bus to take the team over to Jefferson Academy where the game was taking place. Bombay was riding with the team while Scott and I had decided to drive ourselves over. I was driving and Scott was sitting in the passenger seat giving me directions.  
"What's going on with you and Charlie anyway?" Scott finally asked me in between directions.  
"Where did that question come from?" I asked answering his question with one of my own in order to get around having to answer his question. It wasn't that I didn't want to discuss it with him, it was just that I didn't know for sure what was going on myself. I thought Charlie and I had been getting along great up until our short conversation after practice on Friday. His outburst had taken me completely by surprise and I had to admit it hurt. I had spent the weekend avoiding Charlie which hadn't been hard because Charlie seemed to be avoiding me too.  
"Just trying to make conversation," Scott told me. "I just noticed that the two of you seem to be avoiding each other the last few days. I think everyone has," he added referring to the Ducks. I had to admit he was probably right.  
"To be honest I'm not really sure," I told him. "Charlie's moods are hard to figure out sometimes."  
"Must run in the family," Scott told me lightly.  
"You're lucky I'm driving," I told him with a smile.  
"The school is up here on the left," Scott told me and just like that the subject was dropped.  
I turned into the school and continued following Scott's directions to the roller hockey court. The other team was already gathered on one side of the court. I parked the car and then Scott and I got our gear out of the trunk and headed for the court as the School bus from Eden Hall pulled up.  
Scott and I put our stuff on the sidelines at mid-court opposite of the other team and then started talking with the coaches from Jefferson Academy. I couldn't help but notice that their student advisor was nowhere in sight. I glanced over at the bus where Coach Bombay was handing hockey bags out of the back of the bus.  
I couldn't help but wonder if Coach Bombay was going to be able to stay out of coaching the team. He had said he was coming to the game strictly to cheer on the team but still he was a coach. I could just see him starting to yell coaching advice to the players during the game. Its not that I didn't want his help because I knew Scott and I were definitely benefitting from his guidance. I just didn't want him to start undermining our authority with the team.  
Scott and I finished our pre-game conversation with Darryl and Steve, the Jefferson Academy coaches, and then walked over to the sideline. The team was busy getting pads and skates on. I could sense the nervousness in all of them. I felt it myself. It was first game of the season nerves. If this game went badly it could ruin the mood and momentum for the rest of the season.  
I glanced at my watch. We had ten minutes before the start of the game.  
"Will you relax," Scott whispered to me. "Your nerves are going to rub off on the team."  
"Sorry," I told him trying to smile but not succeeding very well. I was going to say something more when I heard Averman's voice.  
"Okay guys this isn't funny," Averman was saying. "What did you do with my stick?" He was looking accusingly at Charlie and Guy.  
"I didn't do anything with it," Guy said standing up and grabbing his own stick. Both Guy and Averman looked to Charlie.  
"Hey, don't look at me. I wouldn't do something like that," Charlie told them. Averman and Guy just continued to look at him. "Well at least not right before a game," Charlie amended.  
"Averman, are you sure you didn't forget it?" I asked closing the short distance between us.  
"No," he said quickly. "I know I had it when I left my dorm room."  
"Okay, well retrace your steps. After leaving the dorm room what did you do?" I asked him. I had extra sticks with me, so I wasn't worried about that. I just didn't want Averman accusing someone of hiding his stick from him the whole game. Something like that was not going to help team morale.  
"I left my dorm and went to the roller hockey court where we were meeting the bus. I was early so I put my stuff down by the fence leaning my stick up against the fence. I talked to Guy and Julie while waiting for the bus. When the bus came I grabbed my bag.." Averman hesitated. "You know come to think of it I don't remember grabbing my stick when I went to get on the bus."  
"Nice going Averman," Guy said.  
"It's a hockey game," Julie said. "How can you forget your hockey stick."  
Averman shrugged looking embarrassed.  
"Sorry Coach," he said glancing at me.  
"No problem. I've got extra sticks with me. Hopefully your stick will still be where you left it when we get back. Why don't you guys go warm up," I told them.  
"It's going to be a long game," Scott said softly as I walked back over to him.  
I didn't say anything. I didn't want to admit it but I thought Scott had a point. This was not a good way to start out a game or a season. 


	22. The game

Note: Thanks to all my reviewers for the feed back. Banksiesbabe99, I put Adam in this chapter just for you, although its at the end, and Charlie's in this chapter too just for you C-chan96. Hope you all enjoy!  
  
Scooter's POV:  
Midway through the second period, the game was not going well for us. We were down two to zero and I don't know what happened to the team I had been coaching for the past couple of weeks. The team on the court wasn't them. They were making silly mistakes, even Julie. The two goals she had let by her should've been easy to stop.  
"Conway, Lambert is open," I called out. He either didn't hear me or he was ignoring me on purpose. Either way the result was the same. Conway went to pass to Drake who had two people defending her and the puck switched hands and just like that we went from being on the offensive to being back on the defensive again.  
"Please tell me I didn't just see that," I muttered.  
"Okay, you didn't just see that," Alex said quietly beside me. I looked over at her. I hadn't really wanted an answer, I hadn't expected anyone to overhear me. "But you did," she finished looking up at me.  
"Thanks," I told her.  
I turned my attention back to the game. Jefferson Academy had the puck down by our net and it looked like they were just playing with our players. They were doing way more passes than was actually necessary. Number 44 for Jefferson Academy took a shot at the goal. Julie dived and deflected it but another Jefferson player got the puck on the rebound and the net was wide open.  
"I can't watch," I said putting a hand over my eyes. I was waiting to hear the whistle signaling another score by the other team. Instead I started hearing cheering around me.  
"Nice save Kilpatrick," Alex called beside me.  
I opened my eyes and saw that we now had control of the puck. Whatever had happened while I was hiding my eyes was probably the best play we had made the whole day. Behind us, on the other side of the fence I could hear Adam, Jesse, and Shane cheering along with a few other kids who had come to watch the game today.  
We switched some players pulling Conway and Drake out of the game. As Charlie joined us on the sideline I saw him glancing in my direction. He was probably waiting for me to say something about the botched play not to long ago. I wasn't going to though. I needed to keep these guys focused on the game not thinking about mistakes that they had already made.  
Out on the court, we still had control of the puck. I however, found myself holding my breath. I was just waiting for someone to mess up. It seemed like the only thing they were good at today.  
But this time the play didn't deteriorate. Everything seemed to just fall into place for us on this play. Lambert faked a shot at the net, and then passed the puck over to Germaine. Germaine got the puck and took his own shot at the goal. The goalie was still recovering from Lambert fake and the puck went by him into the net. As the referee blew his whistle I stood there in shock. I couldn't believe that we had actually scored a goal.  
On the court, the team was celebrating as much as those on the sidelines were. Maybe, just maybe we had a chance at still winning this game.  
"Okay, Conway, Turner and Drake you're back in," I called out trying to get my team focused on the game again. The three players who I had just called pulled there helmets back on and went out on the court as Germaine, Brown and Kilpatrick came off.  
"Nice shot, Guy," I told him as he took his helmet off and grabbed a water bottle.  
"Thanks," Guy said.  
The whistle blew signaling the next face off. Lambert was in the center, and as the referee dropped the puck he beat the Jefferson Academy center to it. Lambert sent the puck in Conway's direction and Charlie completely missed the pass. I'm not even sure how he did it. The puck was heading right toward him and no one was anywhere near him to intercept the pass. Luckily, Averman was able to get a hold of the puck before any of the Jefferson Academy players.  
"Is he doing this on purpose?" I whispered to Alex. "I have never seen him play this bad."  
"I know," Alex whispered back as Charlie botched another play and Jefferson Academy got a hold of the puck. They charged our net and after a couple of shots one of them got the puck past Julie making the score three to one. I was starting to wish this game was over with.  
"Conway," I called motioning him over to the sidelines as Alex sent Kilpatrick out to take Charlie's place.  
  
Charlie's POV:  
"Conway," I heard Scooter call as the other team started celebrating another goal. I couldn't believe I had made that mistake. Or the mistake on the face-off for that matter. I just couldn't keep my mind on the game today. Unfortunately my mind was else where and I think everyone was realizing that.  
I looked over to where Scooter and Alex were standing on the sidelines to see Scooter motioning me off the court. I couldn't really blame him. With all the mistakes I was making today I wouldn't even want me out on the court.  
I made my way over to the sidelines avoiding eye contact with my coaches and my teammates. I knew they were disappointed in me and I couldn't blame them. As I took off my helmet and leaned my hockey stick against the fence I happened to make eye contact with Adam who was watching the game.  
I could see the question in his eyes. He wanted to know what was going and I had a feeling I would probably be trying to dodge him when we got back on campus. Adam was one of the last people I wanted to talk to right now.  
I watched the rest of the second period from the sidelines. I couldn't help but notice that I wasn't the only one out there making mistakes. There were quite a few other mistakes being made which made me think that Scooter and Alex were signaling me out for other reasons. Probably, because of my argument with Alex, not to mention the fact that Scooter didn't want me on the team to begin with.  
In the closing seconds of the game, Averman got a hold of the puck from the other team. 'He's going to mess this up,' I couldn't help but thinking as I watched him skate toward the other side of the court. He was by himself, just him and the goalie. We very well could have our second score of the game.  
Everyone on our side of the court was quiet. I couldn't help but wonder if maybe they were thinking the same thing as I was. I glanced toward Scooter and Alex who were both watching intently. I had seen Scooter hiding his eyes during one of the plays earlier and was surprised he wasn't doing it again. As Averman got close to the net, he lined up and took the shot. The Jefferson Academy goalie dived toward the puck trying to stop it. The puck hit the goalie's glove and deflected toward the bar of the goal and then into the net. The whistle blew, signaling the goal and the end of the second period. Averman had actually scored.  
"Way to go Averman," I called out from my spot on the sideline. Out on the court Averman just stared at the net in disbelief until Lambert and the other's on the court started congratulating him. Before long I lost track of him in the swarm of player's as most of the team that was on the sideline joined the celebration on the court. I stayed where I was. I didn't feel like joining in on the mass celebration.  
"What is your problem today Conway?" I heard Scooter asked. I took my eyes off the team on the court to see Scooter walking toward me today. "I know you can play better than what I saw out there today. Are you trying to throw this game?"  
Although he wasn't yelling I could tell he wasn't happy. I couldn't really blame him. I wasn't that happy with the way I was playing today either. Still, his accusation that I might be doing this on purpose made me mad.  
"Is that Alex's theory or yours," I shot back not really answering his question at all.  
"This has nothing to do with Alex. I don't care what the problem is between the two of you but if you're not going to go out there and try your best then you don't belong on this team," Scooter told me. I could hear the anger in his voice now. My comment probably hadn't been the smartest thing to say. I definitely didn't want to be kicked off the team now. Not after how hard I tried to get on.  
"I'm sorry," I said apologizing and trying to fix any damage my earlier comment might have cause. "I guess my mind just isn't in the game today."  
"Look Charlie," Scooter said his voice softening a little, " we all have bad days. It's going to happen but you can't let whatever is bothering you affect you out there. You're teammates are relying on you too much for that."  
I just nodded not wanting to open my mouth. I was afraid I'd stick my foot back in it if I did.  
"Hey, you two joining us," Alex called. She had the rest of the team gathered around her and was looking over at us. The rest of the team was watching us too.  
"Coming," Scooter called back and started walking toward them. I silently followed. Win or lose I just wanted this day to be over with so I could go back to the dorms and hide in my room.  
  
Adam's POV:  
"Now that's the Charlie Conway I remember," Shane commented with a laugh as we watched the third period of the game. Charlie had just taken a shot at the goal, or well he would have if he hadn't missed the puck completely. I just shot Shane a look. Yeah, Charlie had been a jerk here lately but he was still my friend. "Sorry," Shane said when he saw me looking at him.  
"Man, what is Conway's problem today," Jesse said from the other side of me. "He's a much better player than he's showing today."  
I didn't say anything although I knew Jesse was right. Come to think of it, as much as I hadn't appreciated Shane's remark, he had been right too. Charlie's playing today did remind me of when I had played on the Hawks against Charlie. Back when his team had been known as District 5 and not the Ducks. Back before Gordon Bombay.  
"Come on Conway, focus," I heard Scooter call although to my surprise he didn't pull him.  
I looked over at the score board. The score was still three to two in the favor of Jefferson Academy. There was still five minutes left in the game. Even though with the way they had been playing today it was a long shot, our team still had a chance of winning or at the very least tie the game.  
Jefferson Academy had the puck down in our defense zone again. One of their players got off a shot on the net which Julie deflected. Averman came up with the Puck on the rebound but they weren't able to clear it before they lost control of the puck again.  
On the next rebound Charlie came up with the puck. As he headed toward their net though one of the Jefferson Academy players tripped him with his stick. I closed my eyes as I heard Jesse mutter, "Oh man, here we go," beside me. After the day he had been having, we both expected Charlie to lose his temper.  
I opened my eyes when I heard the referee call for a penalty shot for Eden Hall. Although I could see that Charlie was furious, he had managed to keep his calm and not go after the guy who had tripped him.  
I saw Alex and Scooter discussing something on the sideline. They were probably trying to decide who would take the penalty shot. While in most cases, I personally think the shot should be taken by whoever the penalty was on, in the circumstance I didn't think that was a good idea. With the way Charlie was playing chances were he would miss the shot completely.  
Evidently, Alex and Scooter felt the say way as I saw Lambert go to center court to take the penalty shot. Lambert made the shot which tied the game at three apiece. There was still two minutes left to the game. They still had a chance at winning the game.  
I lost track of how many times the puck changed position over the final stages of the game. Without a doubt, the Warriors were playing the best they had played the entire day. I was pretty sure though that the game was going to end in a tie though but then with fifteen seconds left on the clock Averman got another break away. Suddenly, winning the game was very possible.  
"I can't watch," Jesse said beside me. I know how he felt. Averman was a great defensive player but scoring goals had never been a strong point of his.  
Just as time was running out though, Averman took a shot at the goal and the Jefferson Academy goalie missed the puck entirely. The puck went into the net ending the game in a four to three win for our team. The three of us on the sidelines started yelling and cheering along with the team on the court. I couldn't help but notice though that Charlie wasn't joining in on the celebration. Despite my last encounter with Charlie on Friday night, I was still determined to try and talk to him sometime tonight. I wanted to know what was going on with him. 


	23. Setting an ambush

Adam's POV:  
After the game, Jesse and I rode with Shane back to Eden Hall. Even though none of us were on the team we were all pretty excited about the win. In fact the game was all we talked about on the ride back. Or well to be more accurate, what Shane and Jesse talked about. I mostly sat in the back seat staring out the window. I was thinking about the best way to approach Charlie.  
As I expected, back on campus Charlie was dodging me. I didn't know if that was because he was still mad at me or if he thought I was mad at him. Either way the result was the same, Charlie was avoiding me and I wasn't the only one who realized it.  
"Will the two of you make up already," Fulton said exasperated as Charlie came up with some lame excuse as to why he didn't want to go out for pizza with us.  
"Believe me I'm trying," I told him. "It's kind of hard to make up with someone when they won't let you talk to them."  
"Where's Ken and Connie?" Portman asked. I think he was more concerned with getting everyone together so he could go eat then really wanting to know where they were at.  
"Play practice," Julie answered. "They're not coming."  
"Well, then we got everyone. Let's get going," Portman said proving me right.  
"Hey, Averman do you have your wallet? You didn't leave it sitting somewhere did you?" Guy asked jokingly. It was going to be a long time before Averman lived that one down. In case you're wondering though, his stick was still leaning up against the fence when they got back.  
"Very funny Guy," Averman said the only one among us who wasn't chuckling. I guess even a comedian had to have a limit to how far their sense of humor would go.  
"Hey, Adam where's Alex?" Fulton asked as we climbed onto the bus. The bus driver didn't seem to thrilled to have a huge mob of kids climb on board together. I couldn't wait to see the look on the faces of pizza parlor people when we walked in together.  
"Karate practice," I told him sitting down in a seat next to Jesse.  
"Yeah, don't you know that's the only reason he even started dating her. He needed a body guard," Portman commented from the back of the bus.  
"Watch it Portman, or he'll have Alex beat you up," Guy chimed in.  
"Cute guys," I said but unlike Averman earlier I was smiling. I knew my friends were just kidding around even though Alex probably could beat Portman up.  
"Get Alex to beat me up. He wouldn't need to do that. I'm telling you guys - he might look innocent but watch out for his right hook," was Portman's reply which got all my friends laughing again. I laughed along with them but part of me was wondering whether or not Portman was actually kidding..  
Luckily Russ brought something else up which got the subject off of me momentarily. I had fun that night hanging out with the Ducks. I had been spending so much time with just Shane, Jesse, and Alex that it was nice to hang out with everyone else for awhile. I kind of missed Charlie not being with us. In the past, group things like this were usually his idea.  
As soon as we got back to campus that night everyone scattered in there separate directions. Jesse, Julie and I headed for the dorms.  
"So Julie, what are your plans for the rest of the night?" Jesse asked as we walked.  
"Studying," she replied.  
"How boring," was Jesse's reply. "There much more interesting things to do then study. I'm sure there is something good on tv," Jesse commented.  
"Well then you enjoy your tv," Julie told him. "I'm going study."  
"Girls," Jesse said. "How about you Cake-eater. Want to hang out some more."  
"Sorry, I've got to see if I can find Charlie and talk to him."  
"Just make sure you duck if he takes a swing at you," Julie commented.  
"Thanks a lot," I told her.  
"You two are boring," Jesse told us.  
"Then why don't you go hang out with Fulton and Portman," I told him.  
"Nah, I'd probably end up getting arrested or something. Coach would definitely not like that."  
We walked the rest of the way in silence. Once inside the dorm building Julie made a beeline for her room. Ken was sitting in the common room watching tv. Jesse walked in an made himself comfortable on the couch.  
"Hey Ken, have you seen Charlie?" I asked him standing in the doorway of the room.  
"He and Connie went out after play practice," Ken told me without taking his eyes off the tv.  
"See, you can come and hang out with me," Jesse said from beside Ken. Jesse at least looked back at me while he was talking to me.  
"Nah, I have a plan," I told him.  
"Yeah what?" Jesse said like he didn't believe me. I think he thought I was just trying to get out of hanging out.  
"An ambush," I told him as I turned and headed for the stairs.  
I hurried upstairs and went to my room first. I grabbed the book we were reading for English so at least I would have something to do while I was writing. I then left my dorm room and walked down the few doors to the room that Guy and Charlie shared. I sat down on the floor in front of their door and opened my book. The only way Charlie was going to get in his room tonight was going to be to at least listen to me whether he wanted to or not.  
  
AN: Okay, I know its short but this just seems like a good spot to stop right now. I'm afraid that if I keep going I'll have a really long chapter.  
  
Triple-h's-girl - glad to see you reading. Hope you keep enjoying the story.  
  
Banksiesbabe99 - Sorry, you're going to have to wait for the Charlie/Adam talk but as you can see it is going to happen.  
  
C-chan96- I guess the twilight zone music is still going huh. Sorry about the lack of Charlie in this chapter. I'll make up for it next chapter.  
  
Crazy4nc128- hmm... I wonder how charlie and his temper is going to react to Adam's ambushed - guess you'll have to wait and find out lol. Thanks for the review!  
  
Rachel - glad to see I didn't lose you. I'm glad you like the story and how I'm writing the characters. I couldn't make Adam anything but sweet. 


	24. Walking into the ambush

Triple-H's-girl - I finally got the next chapter done. I hope you enjoy.  
  
Crazy4nc128- I know its probably not as fast of an update as you wanted but at least I updated. I hope you're not disappointed with the Charlie/Adam encounter.  
  
Jess - Glad to hear you liked the Shane/Adam/Jesse friendship. I wasn't sure how well that would go over.  
  
Banksiesbabe99- Thanks for the kind words. The Charlie/Adam confrontation is coming up so just be patient a little longer.  
  
Rachel- Here's the next chapter. Thanks for reading.  
  
Anne918- thanks for reviewing the last two chapters. I'm glad you're enjoying the story so much. Keep up the kind words.  
  
C-Chan96 - I'll forgive you for taking so long to review because I love your reviews so much. As promised there is plenty of Charlie in this chapter (even a little Connie/Charlie). Thanks for the support.  
  
Charlie's POV:  
"Hey Charlie we're all going out for pizza. Come with us?" Fulton offered as I walked down the steps in our dorm building after getting showered and changed. I looked around at all of my friends. I really wanted to hang out with them tonight, well at least most of them but I didn't think it was a good idea. I didn't want to take a chance of losing all my friends and spending the night with Adam around might just lead to that.  
"Umm, no sorry," I answered. "I'd really like to but I have a history paper I want to get started on."  
"Dude, that paper is due in like three weeks," Portman said who was also in my history class. "You're not turning into a geek like Adam and Julie are you."  
"Hey just because I get good grades doesn't make me a geek," Julie said menacingly from her spot next to Averman. It was probably a good thing for Portman that she wasn't close enough to clobber him.  
"Yeah, just keep telling yourself that," Portman called back to her. If looks could kill, we would have been short a bash brother.  
"Well, history isn't exactly my best subject. It's important that I get a good grade on this paper," I replied, which wasn't a lie. History was one of my lower grades, not that my grades were stellar to begin with, especially now that I didn't have the threat of not being able to play hockey if I got anything lower than a B.  
"Suit yourself," Portman said. I could tell he and the rest of my friends weren't too happy about me not hanging out with them tonight but I figured they would get over it.  
"Later guys," I called to them as I headed past the group and toward the exit of the building. I unfortunately had to walk right past Adam. I did so without looking in his direction though but I could still feel his eyes on me. I wondered how long I was going to be able to keep this up.  
As I left the building I wasn't exactly sure where I was headed. I didn't really have any intention of going to the library. Portman was right. The paper was do in three weeks and I didn't even want to start thinking about it yet. After walking around aimlessly for a little while I head across campus to the main academic building.  
I walked inside and made my way to the auditorium where the drama club was having rehearsal. I quietly slipped inside and took a seat in the back row careful not to disturb the rehearsal already in progress.  
Although I had picked up Connie after play practice since we had started going out I had never actually watched one of the rehearsals. I usually showed up just as they were getting done. Today though the auditorium seemed like the perfect place to hide.  
I was actually surprised at how well the actors and actresses were doing. They still had their scripts with them but for the most part, as far as I could see, they weren't using them. When I saw Connie come out on stage I leaned forward in my seat. I was surprised at how good of an actor she was. I guess I never saw Connie as the thespian type just as the rough tomboy type that played hockey - the Velvet Hammer as Averman liked to call her.  
I must've got lost in my own thoughts because the nexdt thing I was aware of was Miss. Jacobs, the drama club advisor, calling an end to practice. As the kids started scattering in different directions I made my way to the aisle and started walking down toward the stage.  
"Hey, Connie," I called out as she started to disappear backstage. She looked toward the sound of my voice with a look of surprise on her face.  
"Charlie," she said happily as she started toward me. "I didn't know you were planning on stopping by tonight. I thought you would be tired from the game today," she said throwing her arms around me.  
"I'm never to tired for you," I told her wrapping my arms around her and holding her close.  
"So how long have you been hanging around here?" she asked me as I let her go. We started walking back toward the stage so that Connie could get her things which were still behind stage.  
"Quite awhile," I told her. "You're really good."  
"Thanks," she said.  
"Hi Charlie, bye Charlie," I heard Ken Wu call. I turned to see him walk out of the auditorium with a very good looking girl. I knew she was in a couple of my classes but I couldn't remember her name.  
"Looks like drama was a positive thing for Ken," I commented as Connie gathered up her things.  
"Yeah, he and Melody have really hit it off. It's good for him. He's actually starting to make friends outside of the Ducks."  
"Everyone seems to be," I said. After I said it I realized I sounded a little more bitter than I had meant to.  
"There's nothing wrong with that Charlie. It doesn't mean we still aren't all friends. It just means we're growing up."  
"Yeah, well I wish things would just stay the same," I told her as we walked out of the audiotrium.  
"Nothing ever stays the same Charlie. Things are going to change whether you want them to or not. It you keep trying to cling to the way things use to be you're going to end up just ruining things," she said softly.  
The two of us fell into a comfortable silence after that as we walked back to our dorm building hand in hand. I found myself thinking about her words. I knew she was talking about my current fight with Adam. The more I thought about what she had said the more I realized she was right. I had been trying to keep things like they had been - I wanted to be Adam's only real close friend. The one he spent most of his time with. That wasn't happening anymore though. He was friends with Shane again and Alex was now back in the picture.  
I guess I hadn't really been fair. I mean after all I had started becoming friends with Alex myself too. If I was going to make new friends I had to expect that he would to, or in this case rekindle old friendships. Although I was pretty sure that I had ruined my friendship with Alex too. Adam hadn't been the only one I was acting like a jerk toward.  
Connie was right. I had to let go of the past. Things weren't going to stay the same and if I didn't go along with the changes I was going to lose my friends. I didn't want that. After all, all of these changes were bringing about something that I wanted for a long time - a family. Gordon would finally be my step-father, I had found a sister I hadn't known I had, and as long as I hadn't completely ruined everything my best friend was going to basically be my brother.  
When we got back to the dorm, Ken and Jesse were in the common room watching tv. I guess Ken had just walked Melody back to her room and then came back.  
"I got homework to do," Connie said giving me a kiss and bringing me out of my thoughts. "I'll see you in the morning Charlie."  
"Okay," I told her watching her disappear down the hallway. Not really wanting to hang out with Ken and Jesse I headed upstairs to my room. I was half way to my room when I noticed Adam sitting in front of my door. It was either go back downstairs or talk to him. I had a feeling even if I retreated downstairs when I came back upstairs Adam would still be waiting for me. It was either talk to him or plan on spending the night down on the couch in the common room. I took a deep breath and continued walking down the hallway.  
"Hi, Adam," I said casually as he closed the book he had been reading and stood up.  
"Charlie we need to talk," Adam said his face blank. I couldn't tell what he was feeling. I didn't know if he hated me or was just fed up with me or what.  
"You're right, we do," I replied. If I wanted to save our friendship I knew it was now or never. "Come on in," I told him nodding toward the door.  
He stood aside and I unlocked the door and walked inside with Adam right behind me. 


	25. Apologies

Banksiesbabe99 - Well here is the make-up that you've been waiting for.  
  
Crazy4nc128- I'm glad you weren't disappointed. I just decided that jerky Charlie had been around long enough and he needed to start redeeming himself.  
  
C-chan96 - Yeah I was always good at procrastinating when it came to paper's myself like the paper for my criminal justice class that I didn't even start until two days before it was due (but believe it or not I was a good student). As for the Miss Jacobs bit I just randomly picked a name. I didn't even think about the DC connection until I read your review (and just so you know Charlie isn't going to have an affair with her). Well I'll let you get to the conversation you want to read so much. Enjoy.  
  
Anne918- don't worry about the delay in reviewing I just like getting reviews no matter how long it takes and I know what it is like to get busy. Thanks for the support.  
  
Adam's POV:  
I followed Charlie into his room. The thought that this was a bad idea crossed my mind. Maybe talking to Charlie alone wasn't a good idea period. The way he had been acting lately I wasn't too sure what was going to happen.  
I heard Charlie shut the door behind him but neither one of us said anything. Suddenly I wasn't quite sure how to start saying what was on my mind without getting Charlie pissed off at me and have him throw me out of the room. I wanted us to work things out not get Charlie even madder.  
"Look, Charlie . . ." I started saying at the same time as he started talking. We both stopped talking and looked at one another trying to decide who should say what they wanted to say first.  
"Adam, please let me tell you something first," Charlie pleaded with me which surprised me. After all he had been the one who had been avoiding me here lately. I was curious as to what he felt was so suddenly important that he say so I nodded my head for him to continue.  
Charlie hesitated for a moment as if he was actually thinking about what he was going to say before he said it. For Charlie that was monumental. Charlie had always tended to speak first and then think about it later.  
"Adam I realize I've been a jerk toward here lately and I'm sorry," he finally said. I'm not sure what I had expected Charlie to say to me but that definitely wasn't it. "You're my best friend and you didn't deserve to be treated the way I've been treating you."  
"Why were you mad at me?" I asked him not really sure I wanted to accept the apology all of a sudden. I thought about the conversation that I had with Jesse last week. Jesse had said that Charlie was jealous. I guess part of me wanted to know if Jesse had been right but mostly I just wanted to know the reason behind Charlie's behavior the past week or so. For me that was more important than the apology itself. Yes, I could blindly accept his apology but in the long run what would that accomplish. Nothing would have been worked out and eventually we would probably end up dealing with the same situation again.  
"At first I wasn't sure," Charlie admitted walking over to his bed and sitting down. "I was just angry and I didn't know why. After I went off at Alex after practice last Friday Connie suggested that I was jealous. It took me awhile but I realized that she was right."  
"Jealous?" I said questionly. This conversation was starting to sound familiar. I had thought Charlie and I had worked all of this out over Christmas vacation. Evidently we hadn't.  
"Yeah jealous," he said again. "Jealous of the fact that you were spending all kinds of time with Alex and Shane. I guess I just got use to being the one you spent time with. I missed our time together," he said with a shrug. "And I was also trying to desperately trying to hold on to the way things were. I was afraid of all the changes that were going on because I was afraid that with all the changes I'd lose our friendship."  
"No matter what changes Charlie, you will always be one of my best friends," I told him sitting down next to him. "You were the first Duck to accept me on the team and you've been there for me over the last four years despite some of the problems we've had. Shane, Alex and I have had some things to catch up on, that's why I've been spending so much time with them but that doesn't mean our friendship means any less to me."  
"Does that mean I'm forgiving?" Charlie asked looking doubtful.  
"Come on, you should know I can't hold a grudge for long," I told him trying to lighten the mood in the room.  
"Thanks, Adam," he said finally smiling. "Now all I have to do is apologize to Alex."  
"I suggest wearing you're hockey gear while doing it," I told him. When he looked at me questionly I added "you might need the protection."  
"That makes me feel so much better. Thanks," he told me.  
"Anytime."  
  
Alex's POV:  
I was trying to get some of my homework done before practice on Tuesday afternoon when I heard a knock on my dorm door.  
"The door is open," I called out as I finished up the math problem I was working on. I heard the door open and looked up as I finished the problem, hopefully with the right answer. I saw Kayla, who had the room across the hall from me, standing there. I got along with everyone on my floor but some of them I was closer to than others. Kayla was one of the ones I wasn't that close to. We just didn't seem to have much in common and fact that she actually enjoyed Riley's company didn't help much considering how well Riley and I got along.  
"You've got someone waiting for you down in the common room."  
"Who is it?" I asked. Most of my friends just came right up to my room instead of sending people to get me.  
"Captain Duckie," Kayla said using Riley's nickname for Riley. She didn't sound all that happy about having to relay the message.  
"Okay, thanks," I told her standing up and heading toward the door. Kayla disappeared into her own room as I headed downstairs to the common room to see what Charlie wanted. I just hoped he wasn't hear to pick another fight.  
Charlie was pacing back and forth by the windows when I walked into the common room. I could see the few people who were actually in the room cast glances at Charlie wondering what was going on.  
"What's up Charlie?" I asked trying to sound cheerful.  
"Um, can we talk, Alex?" he asked tentatively. I think he was expecting me to tell him no.  
"Sure," I told him. "Let's go for a walk," I suggested. I had a feeling that what Charlie wanted to talk about really didn't need an audience.  
"Good idea," he said finally realizing he was getting strange looks from the others in the room. The two of us headed out of the building and started walking down toward the nearby lake. 


	26. Another apology

C-Chan96 - glad you liked Adam/Charlie's reconciliation and hope you like the Charlie/Alex one just as much.  
  
DuckHockey0021496- okay well I didn't think the reunion was that great but I'm glad you liked it anyways. I actually thought it was a little on the corny side but it was the best version I could come up with. I'm glad you liked it. Thanks for the review.  
  
Rachel- thanks for the review. This chapter Charlie apologizes to Alex so you'll get to see how that apology works out for Charlie.  
  
Crazy4nc128 - I think Charlie will gain a few more points in your eyes this chapter. Thanks for reading.  
  
Banksiesbabe99- I'm making Charlie get plenty of practice at apologies, lol. I'm glad to hear you're enjoying the story and here's your update.  
  
Alex's POV:  
We walked in silent down to the lake. There were plenty of things I wanted to say but I wasn't going to. Charlie had come to find me and I was planning on waiting and seeing what it was he had to say.  
I had almost giving up on him saying anything when Charlie finally spoke up.  
"Look Alex, I was out of line last Friday," Charlie told me looking down at the ground. "I had no right to go off on you like that. I mean all you did was ask if I wanted to go to a movie and I practically bit your head off so I just wanted to say that I was sorry."  
"Charlie I'm sorry if you've felt left out lately," I told him. Seeing as we were talking I figured we might as well get everything out in the open. "We weren't trying to do that. Why do you think Adam and I invited you along when we went out sometimes. And as for Mom, you've had her to yourself for fifteen years and I have sixteen years to catch up on with her. I'm not trying to steal your mother away from you."  
"I know," Charlie told me. "It's just that for as long as I can remember it has always been my Mom and me. I guess I'm use to having the people I care about to myself. I know you're probably thinking typical spoiled only child brat."  
"You said it not me," I told him with a smile. I had been thinking something along those lines although I never would have said it. I could understand where he was coming from. I had grown up a only child and I had often thought that I was lucky not to have a sibling to share my parents with. But then after my father's death and during my mother's illness I had found myself wishing for someone to share those experiences with so that I wasn't alone.  
"Thanks for agreeing with me," Charlie commented but I could see the slight smile on his face.  
"Don't get use to it," I told him.  
"So you doing anything tonight after practice tonight?"Charlie asked after a few moments of silence.  
"Not yet," I replied.  
"How about getting something to eat together?"  
"Sounds fun," I told him knowing that it was my brother's way of trying to make things right between us. I happened to look at my watch. "Speaking of practice, if we don't get going we're going to be late for practice."  
"Well, if I show up with one of the coaches how much trouble can I get into for being late," Charlie said although he turned around and we started heading back toward the dorm buildings at a faster pace than we had come down to the lake.  
"Plenty," I told him. "Because Scott will get on my case and then I'll have no option but to get revenge by taking it out on my little brother."  
"Good point," Charlie said. "Race you," he said suddenly breaking into a run. I did the only thing I could do - ran after him.  
"I win," Charlie cried out coming to a stop in front of his dorm building which was closer than mine was. I was only a couple of steps behind him.  
"Yeah, with a head start," I told him giving him a playful punch on the shoulder. "Next time how about we try doing a fair race."  
"What are you talking about fair race. Don't you know that the younger sibling always gets the head start," Charlie told me walking up the steps to the dorm building and out of my reach. "I'll grab my stuff and meet you over at your building," he told me.  
"Okay," I agreed headed toward my own building as he disappeared inside.  
"Hey Alex, Adam was here looking for you a little while ago," my roommate told me as I came into our room. "I told him you were out with Charlie and he said he'd catch you after practice today."  
"Okay, thanks," I told her as I grabbed my hockey bag and stick. "Catch you later," I told her.  
"Later, Alex," she called out to me going back to the book she had been reading before I came into the room.  
I hurried back downstairs and outside where Charlie was already waiting for me. I hurried down the steps and we headed to the roller hockey court together. By the time we got there everyone else was already there and many already have there skates and pads on. I glanced down at my watch. We still had five minutes left which meant that we weren't late.  
Charlie joined the other Ducks in their area of the court and started putting his gear on while I walked across the court to where Scott and I always put our stuff.  
"There you are," Scott said looking up from his clipboard as I dropped my bag on the court and leaned the stick up against the fence. I sat down next to my bag and started putting on my skates. "Do you enjoy making me wonder if you're going to show up or not?"  
"Maybe I do. Makes you realize just how much you need me," I told him without looking up.  
"Cute," he told me although I could hear the laughter in his voice. "So are you and Charlie on speaking terms again?" Scott asked me nodding over toward where Charlie sat putting on his skates.  
"Yes. We talked things out this afternoon and I think we're all on the same playing field even though we still have a lot of obstacles to overcome," I told Scott thinking about the upcoming wedding this weekend. I was starting to wonder if everything was going to go okay this weekend or even if our little group could really form a family.  
"Don't all families," Scott said seriously. I just nodded. He was right. All families had problems to deal with it was just that some dealt with them better than others.  
I finished getting my skates on just as Scott blew his whistle to start practice. After a brief discussion about the game the day before we had the team split into teams for a scrimmage. Practice went well. In fact, if they had played as well yesterday as they were doing today the game probably wouldn't have been as close as it was yesterday. Despite the win I was still a little embarrassed about the game. I think we won simply on luck. I wanted our next game to go much better.  
Like he told my roommate he would, Adam showed up while I was taking my skates off.  
"I know you have karate practice tonight, but I was wondering if you wanted to get something to eat with me first?" he asked me as he sat down next to me.  
"Actually Charlie and I were going to get something to eat but why don't you join us?" I told him as I put my sneakers on and put my skates in the bag. I zipped the bag up but before I could pick it up Adam picked it up and put it over one shoulder giving me my answer. I was actually kind of thankful that I didn't have to carry the bag.  
"Hey Charlie, you don't mind if Adam joins us do you?" I asked him as we walked over to the group.  
"No, not at all," Charlie replied. Charlie grabbed his stuff and the three of us walked toward the parking lot.  
  
Note: I changed the ending a little bit after reading Jess' review for the chapter because I realized I made a mistake. 


	27. Rehearsal

Jess - sorry about the oversight in the last chapter. I had forgotten that I had Alex and Charlie doing something when I had Alex and Adam make plans. I did fix that. To tell you the truth I didn't really plan on having Mr. Banks in this story but now that you mention it that could be a possibility but I don't know. Thanks for the suggestion though.  
  
Banksiesbabe99 - yeah I know how you feel about Alex from your reviews of Rematch. Glad you're still reading the story.  
  
Strawberryliar- hey thanks for reading the stories. I'm glad to hear that you're enjoying them. Hope you enjoy this chapter.  
  
C-Chan96 - Ah, welcome back. Glad you liked the last chapter. What do you know - we have something in common. I'm the younger sibling too and I also have an older brother. Just thought I'd share myself.  
  
Charlie's POV:  
"Charlie will you stop pacing, please," my Mom called out from the pew near the front of the church where she was sitting with Gordon. Connie was sitting in the row behind them. All three of them were staring at me as I walked up and down the aisle. I think I was even getting on the minister's nerves as he sat in the chair behind the pulpit.  
It was Friday night and I was at the church where my mom and Gordon's wedding was going to take place the next morning. So far, we were the only ones there. We were waiting for Guy, Debbie, Julie, Scooter, Adam and Alex to show up for the rehearsal. Technically they weren't late yet. They still had five minutes so I wasn't sure why I was pacing. Maybe I just wanted to get this over with before anything could happen that would put a stop to it.  
The door to the church opened, and I immediately stopped pacing and looked toward the door. Guy and Debbie walked in hand in hand.  
"See I told you they would get here," my Mom said from the front.  
"Are we the last ones to get here?" Guy asked as he took Debbie's coat and hung it up on the coat rack next to his.  
"No, Adam, Alex, Julie and Scooter still aren't here yet either."  
"Charlie's been pacing for the last five minutes. I think he's more nervous about this ceremony than me and Casey are right now," Gordon told him.  
"I just want everything to go well," I said defensively.  
"Everything is going to be fine," my Mom told me soothingly. "Now why don't the three of you come up here and have a seat.  
Guy and Debbie walked up the aisle and sat down in the row behind Connie. Reluctantly, I followed them and sat down next to Connie. I listened absently as Connie, Guy and Debbie talked about school while keeping an eye on the door but no one walked through it.  
I glanced down at my watch. In was now ten after six. The four of them were now officially late. I didn't say anything though.  
After another five minutes I saw my mom look down at her watch.  
"We did tell them six o'clock didn't we?" I heard her whisper to Gordon.  
"Yeah, we did," Gordon replied as he looked at his own watch. "They probably just got stuck in traffic or something," he told her trying to reassure her though. I could tell he was starting to get concerned. If it was just Julie and Scooter they could be just be running late but Alex and Adam were always on time.  
My mom stood up and started pacing back and forth across the front of the church. All conversation stopped as we all just looked at her. My mom realized we were staring at her and she quickly sat back down.  
"Sorry," she said. I could here the worry in her voice.  
"Must run in the family," Gordon commented with a smile trying to lighten the mood in the room a little bit. The comment earned him a punch on the arm from my mother.  
Just then the door opened and Julie and Scooter rushed in.  
"Sorry, we're late," Julie said breathlessly as she quickly got out of her jacket and handed it to Scooter. "We got stuck in traffic and had to take a detour," she explained.  
"The radio said there is a bad accident at the intersection of Maple and 9th street," Scooter commented as he hung up the jackets.  
I looked toward my mother and then Gordon. I could tell they were both thinking the same thing as I was. It definitely wasn't like Adam and Alex to be late and the fact that they were this late meant that something was wrong. What if they were involved in the accident?"  
"Is something wrong?" Julie asked as she walked toward the front of the church to join us. "Where are Adam and Alex?"  
"They haven't got here yet," Guy said answering both of her questions.  
"You don't think . . ." Julie started to say but trailed off without finishing the thought though. The fact that she didn't put it into words though didn't mean we didn't know what she was suggesting. I think we were all thinking the same thing.  
"Look, let's not get all worked up over nothing. They're probably fine. They probably just got stuck in the traffic because of the accident," Gordon said trying to reassure us all. It was a failed attempt. He wasn't reassuring any of us not even himself. I could tell he was worrried.  
We waited another five minutes in silence. Still Adam and Alex did not show up. I saw Gordon take his cell phone out of his pocket and look at it quickly before putting it back in his pocket.  
"I don't want to rush you folks," the minister said coming to sit down on the pew next to my Mom, "but it is getting late. We could start the rehearsals without the last two people or maybe postpone it until the morning. The ceremony doesn't start until noon. We would have time to go through a run through before that," he suggested.  
"Why don't we just go through with the rehearsal without them," Gordon suggested. He didn't say it but I knew my coach. He figured that doing the rehearsal would give us something to do so we weren't all just sitting around worrying.  
"That sound like a good idea," my Mom said with a fake cheerfulness. "Perhaps Debbie and Scooter could stand in for them for right now."  
"Of course," Julie said.  
"No problem," Scooter answered.  
None of my friends looked to thrilled to actually be going through with the rehearsal but none of us were going to argue with my mom and Gordon. Not even me. After all doing anything was better than just sitting around worrying.  
We all stood up and let the minister go through each of our roles in the ceremony. My Mom and Gordon had finally decided on pairing Adam and Connie up and Julie and Guy. Naturally with me being the best man and Alex being the maid of honor the two of us were paired up. The minister talked us through what was suppose to happen and then we all took up our position to actually go through the ceremony.  
As the women went to the back of the church to practice walking down the aisle I took my position on the steps right next to Gordon. Scooter and Guy took their positions next to me. I couldn't help but think that it should've been Adam standing next to me and not Scooter. As Debbie started down the aisle in Alex's spot I glanced down at my watch. Where were they? What was keeping them? 


	28. The phone call

Jess - here is your answer.  
  
Banksiesbabe99- is this soon enough for you. I figured I wouldn't let that cliffhanger go for long.  
  
C-chan96- cute little pun by the way. As for your guess well you'll have to read and find out. I hope the quick update makes me a little less evil, lol!  
  
Emily- thanks for the review. I can pace with the best of them at times my self. The wait is over- here is the update.  
  
Scooter's POV:  
"It doesn't look like the traffic is moving at all," Julie commented beside me. We had been sitting in the traffic for the last ten minutes. I had turned off the cd, hoping that I could figure out what was going on.  
Before I could reply, the traffic report came on. The guy on the radio reported that there was an accident ahead of us that was completely blocking the intersection of Maple and 9th streets. I saw Julie looking at the clock. It was already six o'clock. She was already suppose to be at the church for rehearsal.  
I looked in the rearview mirror to make sure no one was coming before pulling out of the line of traffic and heading down a nearby side street. I wasn't completely sure of the area but I was quite sure I could find a different route to the church.  
"Do you know where you are going?" Julie asked me glancing at the clock again.  
"Just relax," I told her as I made a turn that would start taking us in the direction we had been traveling before I had started my little detour. I started watching street signs hoping to see the road that the church was on or another road I recognized.  
"Damn," I muttered as I realized that I had just driven by the road I wanted. I pulled into the parking lot of the next store I came to and turned around. I made a right onto the road and hoped I was heading in the right direction. "Keep and eye out for the church. It should be on your side," I told Julie as I drove slowly down the street.  
"There it is," she said a few minutes later.  
I turned the car into the small parking lot on the one side of church and found a parking spot. Julie and I then rushed inside.  
"Sorry we're late," Julie called out as we rushed into the church. "We got stuck in traffic and had to take a detour," she added handing her jacket to me.  
"The radio said there was an accident at the intersection of Maple and 9th streets," I added as I hung up our jackets on the coat rack.  
"Is something wrong?" I heard Julie ask. I could hear the worry in her voice. I turned around to see her walking toward the front of the church. "Where are Adam and Alex?" she asked as I followed her down the aisle to the front of the church where the others were sitting.  
"They haven't got here yet," Guy answered.  
"You don't think . . ." Julie started to say. She didn't need to finish the thought though. I knew exactly where she was going with that train of thought and I'm sure the others in the room did to.  
I wanted to say something reassuring but I couldn't. I knew Alex well. If she was late and she hadn't called then something was wrong. That was just the way she was. I wasn't going to bring that up though. It would only make everybody worry even more.  
Five minutes passed before anyone spoke up and then it was the minister. The minister came down and sat down next to Mrs. Conway. From my seat two pews back I couldn't really make out what they were saying.  
"Why don't we just go through the rehearsal without them?" Coach Bombay suggested speaking loud enough for all of us to hear.  
"That sounds like a good idea. Perhaps Debbie and Scooter could stand in for them right now," Mrs. Conway said agreeing with Coach Bombay.  
"Of course," Debbie said  
"No problem," I told them although it was the last thing I really wanted to do. The idea just kind of crept me out somehow but I wasn't about to say anything.  
We all stood up and joined Bombay, Mrs. Conway, the minister, and Charlie in the very front of the church. The minister talked all of us through what would happen and then we got ready to do a run through.  
As I stood next to Charlie, I saw him glance down at his watch and knew exactly what he was thinking. He was wondering where they were and I was wondering the same thing. I knew Alex had her cell phone on her. She always did.  
Then I remembered that I had mine with me to. Why hadn't I thought to call her cell phone earlier? Now wasn't the right time to do it as we were in the middle of a rehearsal. I would just have to wait until this run through was over.  
They were half way through going through the vows, when I heard my cell phone ring. Everyone looked in my direction as I took the phone out of my pocket. I glanced at the screen to see who was calling and was relieved to see the familiar name and number. I hit the button to answer it not really caring how rude it was to be answering the phone at a time like this.  
"Alex, are you two alright? Where are you? Adam is with you right?" I asked quickly without even saying hello.  
"Yes, Adam is with me and we're both fine," she told me. I realized that everyone was looking at me expectantly.  
"They're okay," I told them as Alex started answering my last question.  
"There was an accident at Maple and 9th and we're still stuck at the scene. It happened right in front of us. The guy in front of me ran the red light and got hit. It's been kind of crazy and we've been talking to the officers on the scene and stuff. With everything that was going on I forgot all about calling, I'm sorry."  
"It's perfectly understandable," I told her. "I'm just glad that two of you are okay."  
"They're just about done cleaning things up here so I should be able to be at the church in a little while. Can I talk to Mom or Coach Bombay?"  
"Sure," I told her. "She wants to talk to one of you," I told them handing the phone past Charlie to the two adults. Coach Bombay took the phone from me.  
"What happened?" Charlie asked me softly. Debbie, Julie and Connie had come over to our side of the church and looked at me expectantly for an answer. I told them what Alex had told me and then we waited for Coach Bombay to get done with his conversation with Alex.  
"Okay, we'll see you when you get here then, bye," Coach Bombay finally said and then ended the call and handed the phone back to me. I quickly switched the phone to the silent mode, where it should have been in the first place, and put the phone back into my pocket.  
"We're going to finish this run through and then wait for Adam and Alex to get here before we all head for the restaurant for the dinner. We can go through things for them in the morning before the actually ceremony. With all the excitement they've had tonight I don't think a rehearsal tonight is going to do them any good."  
We got through the rest of the rehearsal without any more excitement. We were just finishing when the back door opened and Alex and Adam walked in. I couldn't help but notice that they both still looked a little pale.  
Everyone rushed toward the back of the church and surrounded them. Debbie and I followed a little more slowly. Debbie I realized really didn't know anyone that well except for Guy and I felt a little out of place myself so I hung back a little although what I really wanted to do was give Alex a hug.  
I got my chance when Alex finally broke away from the crowd and came over to me. I put my arms around her and hugged her tightly. I had never realized just how much I cared about her until this night. We might have only known each other for the past two years but we had been through a lot together. I didn't say anything, just held her until she pulled away.  
We all started to gather jackets and stuff and got ready to leave so that the minister could lock up and go home himself. I saw Alex hand her car keys to Coach Bombay as we all walked out of the church.  
"Hey Scooter, can Debbie and I ride with you?" Guy asked as we walked across the parking lot.  
"Sure," I told them as I opened both Debbie's door and Julie's door for them.  
We all got in and the three cars left the church parking lot. I was following the other two cars to the restaurant. Everyone in the car was quiet and I couldn't help but wonder if the other cars were as quiet. Julie was flipping through the radio stations.  
We were halfway to the restaurant when I felt something weird with the car. I pulled the car off to the side of the road and put the four way flashers on.  
"What's wrong?" Julie asked as I took my seat belt off.  
"I think I got a flat tire," I told her as I opened the car door. The other three got out of the car with me.  
"It's this one over here," Debbie said standing by the rear passenger side tire. Guy and I walked around the car to join the two girls.  
"Great," I muttered as I looked at the tire. It was definitely flat. "Julie, you want to call Alex and tell her what happened so they know where we're at?" I asked handing the phone to her.  
As Julie took the phone, I walked to the back of the car and opened the trunk. As I grabbed the jack out of the trunk Guy grabbed the spare tire for me and the two of us set to changing the tire. I wasn't going to say anything but I was starting to wonder if this night was a sign for the wedding the next day. I certainly hoped not. 


	29. The wedding

Emily - thanks for the review. I'm glad you liked the last chapter.  
  
C-Chan96 - Do you really think I would do something terrible to Alex and Adam right before the wedding. I just wanted to mess with people! By the way, I think you were still spacing when your wrote the last review. I enjoyed reading it anyway lol!Glad you enjoyed the last chapter.  
  
Banksiesbabe99 - now don't you know telling people to shut up isn't polite (lol). Here's another chapter. Hope you enjoy.  
  
Pyro44 - Thanks for the review. Hope this was quick enough for you.  
  
Charlie's POV:  
I stood in the front of the church next to Gordon. I couldn't believe this was actually happen. I had spent years wishing for this and now it was really happening. I saw Connie standing in the back of the church. Even from this distance she looked radiant. As Connie started walking down the aisle I glanced over at Gordon. Very shortly I wouldn't have to call him Coach. Instead I could call him Dad. Gordon glanced over at me and smiled. He looked as happy about this moment as I was.  
As I looked back down the aisle Julie was now following Connie down the aisle. They seemed to be moving awfully slow. I found myself wishing they would just run down the aisle and get it over with. Forget the ceremony, just get on with the vows before something happened to put a stop to them. I glanced to my left, to see my two good friends standing next to me. Guy looked my way and we shared a look. I knew he was happy for me. Between us, Adam stood stiffly and kept his eyes on our friends making their way down the aisle. He was probably trying to forget the fact that he was standing in front of a whole bunch of people. I saw a smile come to his face and I didn't have to look to know that Alex had started coming down the aisle.  
I stopped looking around and looked back to the back of the church. Sure enough, Alex, the older sister that I didn't know I even had till recently, had just started making her way down the aisle. Even though she was my sister, I have to admit that she did look quite pretty with the make- up on that she normally didn't wear and flowers adorning her short hair.  
As the three girls walked up the steps to join us the organ player switched over to playing the wedding march and all the guests stood as my Mom started down the aisle. This wasn't the first time that I had seen my mother walk down the aisle in a wedding dress. I had watched her walk down the aisle when she was marrying Al. This was a different perspective though. I hadn't been standing up front at that wedding. I hadn't even wanted to be there but I had gone but I absolutely refused to be a part of it. This was different though. This time around I could honestly say that I was probably just as happy as my mother.  
I could feel the huge smile on my face as my Mom took her place beside Gordon. I couldn't help but think that they were the perfect couple. It was almost as if I was dreaming.  
"If there is anyone here today that feels that there is a reason that this man and woman should not be joined speak now or forever hold your peace," the minister said. It was part of the ceremony. No one ever spoke up during this time.  
As expected, the church was quiet as everyone patiently waited out the moment of silence granted for someone to speak up. And then the silence was broken but not by the minister. Everyone looked toward the back of the church as they heard the door open. Charlie stared in horror. He couldn't believe who was standing in the doorway. He had definitely not been invited.  
"I object to this union," Al Sarchenski, my former step-father, called out. He started walking up the aisle toward us. "Casey, you can't marry this guy. He isn't right for you. I'm the right guy for you," he started pleading. I wanted to knock the guy out but I couldn't move. It was like my feet were frozen to the carpet beneath them.  
"I know we had our problems in the past," Al continued. He was now kneeling at my Mom's feet. From the looks of it, Gordon was in shock just like I was. "But things will be different this time. I promise. Come with me. We belong together. I feel it and I know you feel it too."  
I waited for my mother to tell him to get loss. To my dismay she didn't. She handed her bouquet to Alex and actually took his hand. I could have screamed as I watched them start walking down the aisle together. No one moved except for them.  
"No, Casey come back to me. I was your first love," another voice called out. I looked in the direction of the voice to see another man standing in the balcony. The guy's face was hidden in the shadows even though there was something strangely familiar about him. " I know I haven't been around for the last twelve years but I can make it up to you. We can finally all be together - you, Alex, Charlie and me. A family like we were always intended to be."  
I looked at my mother. She was standing halfway down the aisle next to Al looking up at the balcony. She looked as if she was actually considering what he was saying. Finally, I found my voice.  
"No," I yelled out . . .  
  
I sat up in bed and looked around. The room was dark but as my eyes started to adjust to the darkness I started seeing the familiar surroundings of my dorm room. Draped over the desk chairs were Guy and mine's tuxedo's, exactly as we had left them before going to bed last night. We hadn't wanted to have to mess with trying to gather everything together when we got up in the morning.  
"Is everything okay?" Guy asked sleepily from across the room.  
"Yeah, sorry to wake you," I replied slowly. It was starting to sink in that it had all been a dream. I looked at the alarm clock next to my bed. It read two twenty-three in the morning. I still had about five hours until I had to get up.  
I laid back against the pillows and stared up at the ceiling. I heard Guy's breathing fall into a steady rhythm as he fell back asleep. I couldn't fall back asleep though. I couldn't help but wonder if the dream was a sign, some kind of bad omen, or simply nerves? The one thing I did know though - it was going to be a long night.  
  
Casey's POV:  
" I do," I said looking into Gordon's eyes. Looking into those eyes I couldn't help but feel as if this was finally the time that marriage was going to work. It just felt right.  
"Do you, Gordon Bombay, take this woman to have and to hold, through sickness and in health, in good times and bad, for richer or poorer until death do you part," the minister was saying.  
I waited expectantly for Gordon to reply. To echo the same words I had just said moments before. Those two words never came though.  
'Say something Gordon' Casey thought to herself. Yet, when she heard the words he had to say she wished he hadn't said anything at all.  
"I'm sorry I can't," Gordon said. "I was going to tell you earlier but I kept putting it off. I didn't know how to tell you. I got an opportunity to play hockey again. With a pro team. It's a chance of a lifetime. I'm sorry Casey but I can't pass it up."  
No, this couldn't be happening. She couldn't be losing him like this again . . .  
  
Casey opened her eyes. In the moonlight that was coming through the window, she saw her wedding dress hanging from the closet door. Right next to it was Gordon's tuxedo.  
As she became more aware of where she was, she could feel Gordon's arms around her. She tried to clear her mind of the awful dream and just concentrate on the feeling of being in his arms. The arms of the man she loved and had loved since she had first met him.  
"Is everything okay," she heard him whisper into her ear.  
She wanted to believe that she had just had a bad dream. That it was just normal pre-wedding jitters. Still, it couldn't hurt to be safe.  
"Gordon, are you happy where you are?" she asked him.  
"Of course I am. What kind of question is that?" Gordon asked her more awake now.  
"I don't know," she said shrugging slightly. "I guess I just wanted to make sure that I'm not holding you back. That you're not giving up an opportunity to be with me."  
"Where is this coming from?"  
Casey told him about the dream she had just had. It felt so right. She had never felt like she could be this open with someone before. This had to be right. This had to be the marriage that worked. Everything just felt so - right.  
"Casey, believe me I'm not going anywhere. I'm not letting you go ever again. Playing hockey is one dream that I've finally accepted just wasn't meant to be. I'm happy at Eden Hall -being a teacher, coaching the Ducks, and being with you. This is where I belong. That is the one thing that I am sure of," he told me softly.  
It was exactly what I wanted to hear. I laid my head back against his shoulder. I felt Gordon's arms tighten around me and before long drifted back off to sleep.  
  
Julie's POV:  
I looked across the small room in the church at Connie. She looked radiant. Perfect. Just like always. I glanced back at the mirror. I looked funny in the make-up I wasn't use to wearing. My hair looked like it might fall out of the pins at any time but try as I may I couldn't do anything to fix it.  
"It's time," Casey's friend Morgan said sticking her head into the room.  
I took a deep breath. Ready or not it was time. Casey, Alex, Connie and I left the room and gathered in the foyer of the church. Connie went first. I couldn't help but notice the looks she got from all the guys in the room. Next it was my turn. I took a deep breath and started down the aisle.  
I took a tentative step down the aisle. I hated high heels. It felt like I was walking on a balancing beam and I never had been any good at those. How does Connie walk so gracefully in these things anyway?  
I could hear whispering among the guests now. They were probably whispering about me and how funny I looked. I could feel my cheeks turning red. I just wanted to get down the aisle without doing anything more embarrassing. And then I heard the most awful sound. I heard the sound of fabric tearing. I had just stepped on the front of my dress. I heard laughter all around me.  
It was just too much. I didn't even bother to see how bad the rip was. I kicked off the offending high heel shoes and ran back the way I had come- past Alexa and Mrs. Conway who were at least attempting to hide their laughter. Even Scooter was laughing at me. I just wanted out of the church . . .  
  
I woke up with a start. This wasn't the first nightmare I've had about the wedding. I had been having them for the last couple of nights. They were all basically the same. They were all about my insecurities of being in Connie's shadow.  
I couldn't help but wonder what had possessed me to say I would be in the window. This was probably the stupidest thing I had ever done. I wasn't the frilly type of girl. I liked my jeans and t-shirts or my hockey gear. I'm not even sure why Scooter was going out with me when he could easily have his pick from some of the more sophisticated girls on campus. The ones I heard whispering about him in the cafeteria, the hallways and in my classes.  
I laid my head back on the pillow and waiting for sleep to claim me again. 


	30. Morning

AN: Okay, I admit the dream bit was mean but I couldn't resist. I promise though that it really is the morning of the wedding (the real wedding now). Honest. It's a short update but I figured you guys deserved something after the scare I gave you.  
  
C-Chan96 - I even warned you. I told you I like to mess with people's minds *grinning evilly*. I'm glad you liked the chapter anyway and at least you didn't threaten me, lol.  
  
Emily - glad you could see the humor in it. As for the real wedding well you'll just have to wait and find out.  
  
Banksiesbabe99- I'm not sure I want to finish the story now as you might wait until it ends and then kill me. Oh well I'll take my chances, lol. And I promise no more dream sequences in this story!  
  
Jesse's POV:  
A pounding on my door woke me out of my nice deep sleep. I looked over at my alarm clock. The clock read six thirty. I was not happy with whoever was on the other side of that door right now.  
"Adam, are you awake. We can't be late," I heard Charlie call through the door.  
I groaned and put the pillow over my head. I would have loved to strangle Charlie right about now.  
"Adam, the door is for you," I called across the room to my roommate.  
"Ignore it and maybe he'll go away," Adam replied from under the blanket he had pulled over his head.  
Charlie banged on the door again.  
"I'm going to kill him," I heard Adam mutter as he finally got out of bed and headed for the door. I heard the door open even though I kept my head underneath the pillow. I highly doubted that I was going to actually fall back asleep at this point but I had no intention of getting up out of bed.  
"Oh you're up," I heard Charlie say as Adam opened our dorm door.  
"Yeah thanks to you," Adam replied. "You actually think that someone could sleep through that racket. What are you doing up so early anyway?"  
I tossed my pillow to the foot of the bed and looked toward the door. Charlie not only was up and rousing us out of our sleep but he was already dressed in his tuxedo. The guy was pathetic.  
"Couldn't sleep," Charlie replied.  
"Well, why aren't you bugging your roommate instead of us. We actually could sleep."  
"Don't worry he already did," I heard Guy call out from across the hall.  
"Well, why don't you go back to your room, and let me take a shower seeing as you have me up at this ungodly hour of the morning and I wouldn't recommend waking anyone else up," Adam told him. He shut the door before Charlie had a chance to say anything else.  
"Now that wasn't nice," I told him. I still hadn't moved out of my bed.  
"Waking me up wasn't nice either," Adam told me heading for his closet and taking out his neatly pressed tuxedo which was in plastic. I resisted making a joke about it.  
"Just leave me some hot water," I called to him. Adam grabbed the pillow from the bottom of the bed and tossed it at me. "Thanks," I told him putting the pillow back underneath my head.  
Adam went into the bathroom and I heard the water start running shortly. I tried to get back to sleep but it wasn't happening. When I heard Adam finally turn the water off I finally gave in and rolled out of bed. I headed for my closet and started going through my clothes looking for my good dress clothes to wear to the wedding. The last time I had actually worn these clothes was probably at the last wedding I had attended.  
I laid my outfit out on the bed and then sat down next to it to wait for Adam to get out of the bathroom. And waited and waited. Finally, I couldn't resist anymore.  
"Hey Adam what are you doing in there, putting each strand of hair in place individually."  
The bathroom door opened and Adam stepped out, hair neatly done of course. He looked sort of funny though as he wasn't wearing socks or shoes yet.  
"New fashion statement?" I asked gathering my stuff up and standing up.  
"Yeah. Think Mrs. Conway and Gordon will like it."  
"They might if they ever saw it. I think Charlie would kill you first if you told him you're going to the wedding that way."  
"Ain't that the truth," Adam said.  
I disappeared into the bathroom to take my shower and get ready. When I came out, Adam was fully dressed and Charlie and Guy had left their room and were now in ours. Fulton and Portman had also joined them.  
"You would think you could lose that bandana for the wedding," I told Portman when I noticed that he was wearing it along with his suit and tie. It actually didn't look too bad even though I think he was the only one of us who could possibly pull it off.  
"Nah, its my trademark," Portman replied.  
I just shook my head. This was looking like it was going to be one interesting wedding.  
  
Alex's POV:  
When I woke up Saturday morning I tried to be quiet as I started getting ready. I knew it was still pretty early and I didn't really want to wake up my roommate. When I got out of the bathroom after taking my shower though, Beth was already awake and looked to be wide awake. She had all kind of stuff spread out on her desk and I couldn't help but wonder what she was up to.  
"Okay have a seat," Beth said indicating her desk chair. "I'm going to do you're hair and make-up for you." She told me clearly not giving me a chance to decide if I wanted her to do it or not.  
Actually I was grateful for her offer. My Mom had decided to not bother with getting someone to professionally do our hair and make-up. I knew that she had a friend coming over to help her and Julie and Connie were doing each other as they were roommates. That left me on my own and I didn't particularly mess with that sort of thing too often. I had been concerned about getting it to come out looking right.  
"We're all doing our hair in french braids," I told Beth as I sat down in the chair she had indicated. That had been one thing I had been planning on putting off and letting my Mom or someone do at the church but it would be nice to not have to worry about that now.  
"No problem," Beth said. "Other than the bride, I'm going to make sure you are the prettiest one there."  
I smiled as Beth picked up the brush and started fixing my hair. I was lucky to have such a great roommate. 


	31. A New Beginning

Banksiebabe99 - I don't think over a month is what you had in mind as real quick but I finally got the chapter up. The last chapter I might add. I wasn't sure I was going to end it here but it just seemed like a good spot. (Sorry but I didn't kill Alex.)  
  
C-Chan96 - It's the real wedding I promise. I'm not messing with people's minds this time. I'm glad you enjoyed the last chapter (I hope even more that you remember the last chapter). Hope you enjoy.  
  
Charlie's POV:  
I ended up riding over to the church with Shane and Adam. Guy and Jesse were also in the back seat with me. None of the guys looked particularly happy with me. Of course waking them up at five thirty in the morning is probably what had caused that. What can I say? I was excited.  
As Shane pulled into the church parking lot I saw that Gordon's car was already there and Alex, Connie and Julie were just getting out of Alex's car. We hadn't seen any of the girls all morning and I have to say that all three of them looked great although Alex looked a little funny in her dress with sneakers on her feet.  
"Nice fashion statement, Julie," Jesse called out as he opened the car door.  
I looked over at Julie trying to figure out what he meant by the comment. It didn't take me long. Julie was also wearing a pair of tennis shoes although hers were kind of ratty.  
"I'm not the only one," Julie said defensively.  
"Yeah but I have a reason. I had to drive," Alex told her. "Believe me you don't want to be in the car if I attempt to drive in heels. You just don't like the shoes."  
"How can anyone expect me to actually walk in these things?" Julie said holding up her high heels that matched the dress. The heels were only about a half inch but evidently Julie still didn't like them.  
"Ah, usually you put one foot in front of the other," Jesse told her.  
"Shut up Hall," was Julie's reply.  
"Okay can we save the arguing for after the ceremony," I told them, even though I really wanted to laugh at Jesse's comment. I was trying to be a little diplomatic for a change though as I knew I was already walking on thin ice with the guys and I wanted everything to go well today.  
"Fine, but if I hear one more comment from him," Julie said casting a glance in Jesse's direction.  
"Ah come on Cat Lady. Its just a little friendly ribbing," Jesse told her.  
"How would you like it if I told you were two short for a basket ball player. That you look like a dwarf out there with everyone else."  
I saw Jesse elbow Adam in the ribs who was laughing. Even I couldn't keep the smile off my face. Compared to some of the other players Jesse was kind of short.  
"Okay, truce," Jesse told her. "Just don't trip walking down the aisle," he added with a huge grin.  
He immediately started running for the church and Julie started after him. I was actually waiting for Julie to trip over her dress as she didn't think to hold the long skirt of the dress up.  
"If this is any indication of how the day is going to go it could be a long day," Alex commented as the rest of us started heading toward the church.  
As I slipped my hand into Connie's I noticed Adam and Alex do the same thing. I hadn't thought about it before but as I saw the two of them together I wondered how their relationship was going to weather living in the same house. At least with us going to Eden Academy it would only be on holidays and summer vacations.  
As we walked into the church, my Mom's friend Cindy from the dinner was standing into the foyer. She immediately started telling us where we needed to go. I saw that she already had Jesse sitting in a pew toward the front of the church and Julie was no where to be seen.  
"Charlie, your Mom wants to see before you go join Gordon," Cindy told me pointing in the direction of a room which I took to mean that my mom was in that room.  
"Okay," I told her.  
I gave Connie a quick kiss as she and Alex headed toward another room. Afterwards I walked over to the door that Cindy had indicated and knocked on the door.  
"Come in," I heard my mom call from inside.  
I opened the door and headed inside. My Mom was already in her wedding dress although her hair wasn't done yet. She looked beautiful. I don't even remember her looking that pretty the last time that she got married.  
"Oh good Charlie, its you," my Mom said as she saw me come in.  
"Is everything okay Mom," I asked her immediately thinking that something was wrong.  
"No, no," she said quickly giving me a quick smile. "Well, nothing except a little case of the nerves. I just wanted to see you before the ceremony," she told me.  
She walked over to me holding out her arms for a hug. I took a few steps toward her and we embraced.  
"You look beautiful Mom," I told her as I hugged her tight.  
"Thank-you," she said as she let me go. There was still something in her voice though that I couldn't quite place. I looked at her questionly and she didn't miss the look.  
"I never could fool you could I," she said with a sigh.  
"Mom what's wrong?" I asked her.  
I thought for a moment that she wasn't going to answer me but then she did.  
"Charlie what if this is a mistake. I mean I've already been married twice and look how those turned out. I keep asking myself if its fair to put you through this again. What if this doesn't work out?"  
"Mom this time will be different," I told her.  
"You seem so sure of that," she told me looking at me.  
"I am. This just feels right. Its something that we all really want and look at what we've already gotten through together."  
"I hope you're right," she said. I could still hear the uncertainty in her voice. I gave her another hug.  
"We all belong together," I told her. "I just feel it." She hugged me back, tighter than the last time.  
"Thanks Charlie," she told me finally letting me go.  
I heard the door open and saw Cindy come into the room.  
"Okay Charlie, time to leave. I need to do your mother's hair," she told me.  
"Okay, bye Mom," I said giving her another quick hug.  
I left the room and found Adam waiting outside in the hallway.  
"Everyone else is already with Gordon. I figured I'd wait for you," Adam told me.  
"Thanks," I said. I started to walk toward the room where Cindy had told me that Gordon was but I noticed that Adam wasn't moving. I stopped and looked back at my best friend.  
"Adam what's wrong?" I asked. I didn't have to ask if something was wrong because I knew that. I had been friends with Adam long enough now to tell when something was bothering him even when he didn't come out and say it.  
"Charlie are you sure you're okay with this?" Adam asked me.  
I tried to figure out exactly what he was talking about. I had wanted my Mom and Coach Bombay to get married for years. Adam knew that so I knew that couldn't be what he was talking about but for the life of me I couldn't think of anything else.  
"Okay with what?" I asked taking the safe route.  
"With me being around," he told me. "I mean I know you've wanted Bombay to marry your mom since you first meant him and now that its happening I'm in the picture. When Gordon first took me in, you're mom was still married so I didn't even think that this could happen but it is and I know that what you wanted was for the three of you to be a family but now I'm around." Adam paused. I didn't say anything as I was still trying to grasp just what it was he was getting at. I was about to say something when he started talking again.  
"Charlie, I don't want to lose our friendship. If my being around is going to cause problems for you I'll go home," Adam told me.  
I wasn't sure how to react. I didn't know if Adam was really worried about how the upcoming wedding was going to affect our friendship or if maybe he was just looking for a reason to go home. I knew that his fall out with his father hadn't been easy on him even though he hadn't talked about it much since he had gone to live with Gordon after Thanksgiving. It made me realize even more that I hadn't been that great of a friend lately.  
"Adam, I think that all five of us can make this work together but if going home is something that you really wanted I'd understand and I'm sure the others would too. But don't go home just because you think that you being around is going to make things harder because that wouldn't be fair to anyone, especially not you. Do you really want to go back home?"  
"I don't know. Maybe," he told me. I could tell he had been thinking about it some but I could also see the uncertainty.  
I knew this was something that he needed to talk about and not just with me. Unfortunately now wasn't the best time.  
"Adam, you can't rush into a decision like that," I told him. "You need to talk this through with everyone, make sure its what you really want."  
I saw him nod slightly even though he didn't say anything. I walked back to him and threw my arms around his shoulders.  
"Come one, they're probably wondering where we got too," I said hoping to get him to forget about it for a little while.  
Adam just nodded and the two of us heading in the direction of the room we were suppose to be in and where Bombay and Guy were waiting for us. This day wasn't turning out like I had planned so far but with any luck it wouldn't turn out to be a diasater.  
  
Alex's POV:  
The ceremony was just about to begin. I looked around the room one more time before we left the room. Connie was checking herself in the mirror one last time. Julie just looked plain uncomfortable in her fancy clothes. I had a feeling the high heels weren't going to last to long into the reception. My Mom was fiddling with her bouquet. She looked as nervous as I felt.  
This all seemed too good to be true for me. At the beginning of this year I had thought I was all alone. I hadn't even really considered seriously looking for my real mother and yet I had found her without really looking. I had not only found her but also found out that I had a younger brother and was soon to have a step father. Everything had just happened so fast and there were times I thought it was all just a dream but it was really happening.  
There was a knock on the door and then Coach Ted Orion stuck his head into the room.  
"They're ready to begin," he told us. Being a long time friend of Coach Bombay's Coach Orion had come back for the wedding. With Charlie being the best man my Mom didn't have any family member to walk her down the aisle so Coach Orion was going to do that.  
"Okay, I think we're ready," my Mom told him.  
Coach Orion held the door open as first Connie, Julie, me and my Mom filed out of the room. As the organist saw us she began playing. I watched as Connie slowly made her way down the aisle.  
Julie was next. As she made her way down the aisle I could tell, and I think everyone there could too, that she wasn't use to wearing high heels as she was a little unsteady in them. I just hoped she didn't trip or anything.  
And then it was my turn. I took a deep breath and started walking down the aisle. I looked toward the front of the church and tried to forget about everyone else in the church watching me. I don't know why it was bothering me as I played hockey in front of more people than was in the church.  
When I was halfway down the aisle I heard the music change to "Here Comes the Bride" and I knew that my Mom had started down the aisle. At least people would be watching her now and not me.  
I finished the walk to the front of the church and took my place on the steps next to Julie. I glanced over at the other side of the church. The guys were standing there watching my Mom come down the aisle.  
Guy was actually only paying half attention to what was going on. I caught he glancing around a couple of times and more than once he looked in Debbie's direction who was sitting with Shane and Scooter. Next to him Adam was standing there watching but I couldn't read any emotion on his face. I knew what was going on with him. We had talked about it a few times over the past week. I wasn't quite sure how to help him. I kept telling him to talk to Gordon or his mother but he kept refusing. I tried to forget about it. There would be time to deal with that after today.  
Next to Adam, was Charlie. The smile on his face could've definitely made up for the lack of one on Adam's face. I could tell that he was happy. I knew this was something that he had wanted for years. I also knew this wasn't going to work out smoothly. There was going to be an adjustment period for all of us. Hopefully, Charlie handled that better than he had been handling all the changes the past couple of weeks.  
Next to Charlie, Coach Bombay stood with a smile on his face equal to Charlie's. I could also see the love he had for my mom in his eyes. It was the same thing I had seen growing up when my Dad had looked at my Mom and vice versa. I knew he was special and that he loved my Mom. After all, it wasn't everybody who would be willing to get married and suddenly have two teenage kids, or if Adam chose to stay with us three.  
As my Mom started walking up the steps I could see that look of love in her eyes too. I was couldn't believe how lucky I was. I knew that there were more difficult times ahead of us but I also knew that no matter what happened I was a part of a family. A family that loved each other.  
  
-I realize that there are going to be unhappy with the ending but I liked this ending. I do eventually plan on making another story to the series which I sort of set up at least part of the story line with this story as part of it will deal with Adam and whether or not he goes home but as they say that's another story. I hoped you all enjoyed this one. Thanks for reading everyone and I would love to her your opinions even if you are mad at me. 


End file.
